Mass Illuminations
by MacDii
Summary: A sleep deprived student is ... transported to the Mass Effect Universe. Will our sexy, witty and extremely intelligent hero survive plot events like Virmire? A Self-Insert with any names of real life people mentioned, have been changed. Rated M for language and potential mature themes later on. Most of the characters/locations/objects are owned by Bioware and the ME Producers.
1. Chapter 1 - The Prologue

**Mass**** Illumination** - **Enter The Dragon**

"_And next, Family Guy again, what __is__ Stewie up to this time?"_Blared the TV, what has it been? Almost 48 hours without sleep and I still have a blank page ready for my personal statement. It's only half eleven? Shit man, I should be sleeping. Pat's 18th party tomorrow, and I still need to get my Halloween costume sorted.

Turning off the TV, I walked into the bathroom, and started to brush my teeth. Ah, beautiful. My perfect choppers. Admiring my … devilishly good looks, minus that one spot that blossoms just my temple. Bloody testosterone. I'm 18, I shouldn't have this problem anymore. My girlfriend said it was clearing up, so I suppose that's a bonus. Oh shit my phone. Have to trek back downstairs … with my creaky stairs and broken downstairs light. Why did my family have to go away this week? Living behind a pub, in a cul-de-sac with only three houses and one street light gives a feeling of terror, or perhaps that's just me? One time, when one of mates stopped round, someone broke into next door and at three in the morning we had cops knocking my door. Dex was terrified, with all his well brought up Christian. What a hell of a tangent. I need to get some god damn sleep.

I keep seeing shadows move across my vision. This is why, kids, you need good amounts of sleep. Bloody human shaped ones. Some don't even look like that. Was … was that a fucking crocodile? On hind legs?

_Bang._

What.

What.

What.

"_Hu…human" _the voice put emphasis on the 'a' part. Almost like you'd imagine a snake.

What.

The blow hit me before I could even register it. The numbness was the first thing I noticed. The blood … no … _my_ blood on the wall was the second. The weird hamster like humanoid was the third … is that … is that a … a fucking Vorcha?

The Vorcha lifted his foot, 'Human.' He hissed. As his foot hit my face, the darkness overtook me.

"Fucking arg!" I screamed.

"Calm down Mack, you're safe now." Came a rather calm voice.

"What the …" I couldn't even finish my sentence as another bout of pain hit me.

"Mack. They jumped us. You got shot in the fucking _head_. By my accounts you should be dead. Stop screaming and count your blessings." Came the voice again. Female. Wait … _female_? Wasn't I in my house? With ... shit. The Vorcha … in my house … who fucking _jumped_ me?

Opening my eyes, I immediately regret my choice.

"Mack. Stop moving. Stop waving your arms. And stop screaming. You'll just attract more. Remember your training."

What training? Stop been so bloody obscure you voice. Wait … training?

_Memories flood me. Been raised by a loving family. Training with my older brother in a militia. Batarians … Batarians? And … Krogan … killing … everyone … my mother … dragging my baby sister away … both killed by a incendiary grenade … their screams … making the attackers laugh … my brother … hid me under a broken car … he and father tried to hold off … both taken eventually … I see my father beaten … they don't notice me ... as they leave … I cry … hours … feels like days but there is no night … just burning light … stench of … death. Eventually human soldiers … I run to them … I recognise … Captain Anderson? He takes me in. Looks after me … I feel lost. On my 18__th__ birthday, I join army … no. The Alliance Military. Anderson trains me as a specialist. An infiltrator. I'm a natural sniper. _

"Mack? You keep blacking out. We've lost James and Harris. You need to get back into the game you dick. Don't leave me hanging."

So. It seems I'm a colonist Shepard. But with both … my memories and … this Shepard's memories. Is this Mass Effect? Or at least it's universe? She called me Mack … So I'm not Shepard … but my own person …

"Mack! Shit … I'm not loosing y…" An explosion forces my eyes open …

Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams is staring at me.

I'm in the Mass Effect Universe. And by the looks of it. I'm on Eden Prime. Before Shepard Arrives. Shit.

**#######**

**Hey there folks! I want feedback! I'm writing to improve, so if I made grammatical mistakes or spelling errors, please! Tell me! :3 **

**Thanks for your time, rock on.**

**MacDii**

**#######**


	2. Chapter 2 - Eden Prime

**Mass Illumination - The Dragon in the Garden of Eden**

Ashley fucking Williams.

"My head …" I moan … trying to hide my confusion. What the hell is going on? I wasn't _that_ tired was I? Almost two days without sleep … but …

"Most of our squad has been cut off … I'm not sure if you recall, but Geth jumped you." She looked at me with … almost remorse. Her big … _beautiful _brown eyes twinkle with sadness. I just called a computer game character … _beautiful_?

"Chief! Lieutenant! Hanks needs support asap!" crackled a radio. I'm a Lieutenant? Nice.

"Tell him I'm coming, the Lieutenant got hit pretty bad …" She looks at me as she replied …

"I'll make it …" It hurt to talk but her squad needed the support, "Let me cover you with my last breath… I owe you that much." Shit. I almost convinced myself I was going to die.

"Sir …" She hesitated. She knows the needs of the many come before the needs of the few. Even I've been here five minutes, but I know what is going to happen. If I'm going to survive in this universe, and especially if I'm a bloody lieutenant, I need to take charge.

"That's an order chief." I say. I look her in the eye. I put my most determined face on. I'm not fucking dying here, oh don't you worry.

She nods as she stands, "Thank you sir. Cover me best you can. I hope you do shoot better than you play cards." She flashes a small smile at me as slides down the slight incline of the cliff face.

Oh right, I'm a sniper. I pull out my rifle and admire the beauty of it. Such a well crafted weapon. Even I can tell it's custom made, but I've never used a gun before … well … I used a paintball gun … but that hardly counts. That was more like shooting peas than bullets. If I recall my mass effect guns correctly … this is a Black Widow … but I thought only Legion had this? Or perhaps this sort of stuff was reserved for the special ops as it seems that's I do.

I roll onto my belly, trying to ignore the pain in my face. I was always good with pain, kind of had to be playing Rugby at school. The kids there were right little fuckers. I swear one kid _tried_ to break my neck.

I look down the scope of the gorgeously crafted rifle, realising that my face wound is over my left eye, and thanking God I'm right-side-orientated.

Scanning around I see Ash sprinting towards the rest of her squad. Scanning around, I actually recognise the spot from in game! I see the spot where Shepard rescues Ash … the crazy doctor and his handler … can't renegade Shepard knock him out? That gets me thinking about Shepard … Male? Female? Will there even be a Shepard? Or have I taken his place …

As I scan, I realise how naturally this comes to me … as if I had been training for 10 years … shit. Wasn't the Mindoir colony attacked … 2170? And mass effect happens in the 80's … so I'm in a universe where I'm ten years older? Shit. I wanted to be a teacher. Or even a linguist. Not a soldier. However badass I feel being a Lieutenant in what appears to be a spec ops role.

I take a shot at a Geth trying to flank the Squad. My shot goes through his shields and hits his arm. I Disarmed him but he can still kill. I shoot him again, this time taking in account of the wind and distance.

**BOOM HEADSHOT**.

I should take this more seriously. I could die. This isn't a game anymore. To prove my point my shields flicker as a Geth sniper narrowly misses me.

Shit. No more … what ever that's from …

I go to grab the trigger on my rifle and a burning sensation rushes into my hand. I cry out in pain. Shit, they overheat fast, lesson learned. I hear the beep, signalling it's cooled, and scan for my sniper.

I find him pretty quickly. He must think he hit me because he's not in cover and running past where the crazy doctor is aiming at the squad. He lets a shot off as I hit him through his torch face. I need to get faster. I check the squad and see … fucking hell. A trooper, looks barely 18, missing half of his face … I see … what's left of his eye fall out of the soldier and I have to turn away. Knowing what I know doesn't change this. The _heretic_ Geth are just plain bastards.

I line up another shot, this time against a rocket trooper. I take him just under the torch, through his neck … equivalent. I line up a few more … but after a few shots, I see that this wave is going to crush the squad. After about ten minutes of fierce fighting, the humans number 4, not including me, but the there is at least … two dozen Geth coming through. I aim for the rocket troopers and snipers, but the sheer number force the Squad to start retreating towards where Shepard should meet Ash.

_Click click beep beep bzzzt_

I turn to see two Geth sprinting up the ledge where Ash went down, shit. I take a pot shot at one and then fire again, without even aiming. My first shot is wide, but my no-scope takes down the one who looked like he had a shotgun. My luck is that he was also slightly ahead, tripping the second as he falls. My instinct is to grab the knife in attached to my ankle and lunge. Which is what I do. Glad of my prior N7 training. My knife enters his torch, killing him instantly. I slash at his … neck to ensure he won't get back up.

I mean … It's weird I have two instincts. Its almost as if they've intertwined. Perfectly. Like butter on toast … of ice in lemonade. My prior was a great soldier … now I am too. I'm perfectly fine with killing Geth, even though I have my outside gamer knowledge. Knowing that these Geth will kill … no, have killed innocents, simply makes it okay. I would have considered myself a pacifist … but the fact that I've killed around twelve _conscious_ beings doesn't bother …that in itself bothers me.

I drop and look back at Ash and … I realise the squad is dead, with the exception of Ash. I shoot a Geth behind her to signal I'm still kicking and she replies with a salute. I look around me and see … what looks like a blue tooth ear phone on the floor and I assume that's mine. I hear Ash's voice asking if I'm still in pain over the crackling.

"Williams, retreat. I can cover you up until the tree line." I say calmly, whilst putting the ear phone into my ear.

"I'm not leaving you sir, were the only ones left." She says stubbornly. I see her kick a Geth back, but I have to shoot it, with I do.

"No point having us both die eh? You'll make a great officer one day." A memory takes me by surprise. My prior seemed to have the same idea as me … and well wanted her to become more… clear the family name. "If I don't make it, there's a recommendation in my desk for N7 training for you." I tell her. "Now fall back Williams or I will shove my recommendation up your …" I don't bother finishing because I see someone who took their sweet time.

Out of the tree line comes none other than Commander Shepard and Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko. Seems Jenkins didn't make it. Always thought that was a dick move by Bioware. Jenkins seemed great then he dies seconds into the game.

But Shepard is female! So she could romance Kaiden … or Liara … hoorah for xenolesbians!

Shepard and Kaiden take down the rest of Geth. Both of them using some _sweet_ biotic powers. A lift here and a push there, Geth flying into each other. At one point, there is a shower of sparks as I hit one as they collide. I see Shepard approach Ash, and I know she's in good hands, so I can future fire fights. I see a few spikes and Geth using them, as well as a couple of husks wandering like zombies. Zombies, fun fact, always terrified me, ever since I played Resident Evil on my PlayStation one. I grew out of it, but I'm not looking forward to fighting them.

"Lieutenant Commander, are you okay?" I hear in my ear, I'd know that voice anywhere.

"Now you mention it, I can't open my left eye, but I'm still battle ready, can I ask who you are ma'am?" I ask, need to play the part of a spec ops badass, plus I shouldn't know who she is at this point in time.

Lieutenant Commander. What. I'm only a _single_ rank below Shepard? Well I'll be a monkey's uncle.

"Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy. We're here for the Protheon Artefact. Can you give us any intel while you're up there?"She asks. I can see her from my cliff. She looks pretty awesome, she has an aura of authority.

"Up the hill in front of you, there is … spikes that have impaled colonists on them … about a dozen Geth and … some blue glowing zombie creatures…" I finish … it's pretty hard to explain when you know what they are. "The dig site isn't far, but it's just outside of my vision. I'll meet you there Commander." I add, just for good measure.

"Rodger that, do you mind been called 'Mack'? Williams said that's what you prefer." She's definitely paragon. A renegade wouldn't ask that.

"Aye aye Commander, or simply Lieutenant…"I decide to throw in a quip, simply for good measure, "or even 'sexy' if that's what suits your fancy. But we have colonists to save, over and out." I cut my comlink and smile, now she knows I'm jokey but serious. I hope. That's what I'm going for.

I crawl forward, hearing gunfire from the remaining Geth and Shepard's squad. Shit, you could hear them in Slipknot concert. Even if you were deaf. I can see why people are always ready in the games.

I get in view of the dig site, and I see where the beacon should be, I also see the reinforcement Geth.

"Commander, the Artefact has been moved. Geth reinforcements are converging on the dig site too. The extra Geth have come from the science camp, so if you can clear the dig site, you'll have some breathing room." I say. I need to play the part of a good recon guy. Which is the safest job, as opposed to charging in blind like in the games.

"Copy that, any idea where it could have been moved to?" is the reply. Use your brain Shepard! Or tell her Ash.

"If you wanted to steal it, then the Spaceport seems logical I suppose." I try to act intelligent. I've played all 3 games so I know what happens … kind of … I never got round to saving earth … probably going to pose a problem … if I get that far.

"Good thinking, Nihlus is headed there anyway, I want you to get a vantage point over the area then okay? We'll meet you there. Shepard out." Always the professional.

Shit, I might be able to save Nihlus … but that might ruin the story … should I keep my knowledge secret? No one will exactly believe me anyway. I might be able to get evidence of Saren though …

I silently run along the cliff, keeping low, keeping a head count of as many hostiles as possible. There are so much more than in game. Like … almost three times as many … Shepard is going to be busy.

I reach a good spot, good enough to see where the farmers are hiding, where Nihlus dies and where that smuggler hides. The lack of my left eye hasn't been bothering me … and I am confused. I thought loosing sight in one eye would be a handicap … but if anything my other senses are heightened. It must be my prior's skills. I don't anyone who could get shot in the face and survive … let alone continue fighting afterwards. Okay, Zaeed, but he is an absolute beast.

About ten minutes of waiting, I see … Saren. I grip my rifle in anger … but I force myself to be calm. I have to play to the story. So I'll inform Shepard.

"Commander. I'm in position. But there has been a … development. There's a Turian, he seems calm, he's radioing someone, but I can't hear any chatter on your end. Just checking if this guy is yours?" Now wait …

"I don't know why any other Turian would be here, white face paint? Red and black armour? Shotgun?" She seems pretty sure …

"Negative on that commander. He has silver plates, black and silver armour and … I don't see a shotgun at all."

I can tell by the silence that she is confused. This is weird, a Turian on an obscure world on the edge of the Terminus Systems. Why on Earth would he be here?

"Is there any sign of Nihlus? Are you sure you can see everything …?" I can now hear the confusion. She's totally baffled.

I leave her hanging momentarily … I see Nihlus … sneaking to his death by his mentor and friend …

"I … I have a visual on Nihlus." Just like the cut scene in the first Mass Effect, Nihlus lowers his guard, but I have to play the part … "Nihlus looks like he knows this Turian … lowered his gun … huh that's …" The gunshot echoes throughout the valley …

"What? What happened Mack?" I hear the urgency … I could have saved him …

"The … other Turian… fuck … Nihlus turned around … and the other one … just shot him …" I could have saved him … "I could have saved him …"

"You had no way of knowing … keep your eye on him … he's our lead." She replied … calm … come Mack! I need to be calm too … I need to Nihlus' job.

"Aye aye Commander, there's around thirty hostiles on the way to the spaceport, I'll follow this bastard." My anger projecting my Scottish accent, I could have saved him … wouldn't my testimony count for something to the council? I'm not a traumatised dock worker … well I am a sniper who's been **shot** in the face.

Back into my silent run across the cliffs, I follow him while he takes the train, but I loose sight after he gets off. Shit. I need to get closer. If Shepard gets here soon, I'll join up with her. I need to let Saren escape … he needs to survive … until the Citadel of course … but shit …

That's when I notice the Reaper. _Huge_ isn't the word. _Godly _seems pretty close. Of all of my prior's memories … I've never seen anything this … this size … on a planet! The Element Zero … it must be consuming it as fast as humans consumed oil …

Like in the game the ship makes a huge … sound … like a WW2 air raid siren … ungodly … designed to make people know that shit is going down. As it takes off, I'm close enough to feel the shockwaves … no atmosphere should take this sort of punishment.

"Mack, we're nearing the spaceport, where's the Turian?" Crackled Shepard.

"I've lost sight, it's a one way on the train, I'll meet you at the spaceport commander." I reply. Shit … I'll have to walk past his body …

As I get back to my spot where I saw Nihlus die, I see Shepard talking to the farmers, will she figure out that they were helping the smugglers? I see the man hand over a gun, so I assume she did. Kudos.

Scanning the area, making sure the area is clear, I proceed to slide down the, rather steep cliff face. My prior's prowess is something to behold, I'm extremely skilled, I have the instincts of a veteran and I'm pretty fit. Fitter than I was anyway, I couldn't have run as much as I did today, before at all.

Shepard, Kaiden and Ash are just finishing their meeting with the smuggler as I get there, he gives them the grenades and as he walks away, I approach the commander and salute, "Commander Shepard."

She jumps as she sees me, "Shit Mack … your …"

"Face? I'll live. Are we ready to go?" I smile at her concern, but I really feel fine, my adrenaline is numbing the pain, and as I walk towards the counter where the smuggler was hiding, I notice a bottle of whisky. Jack fucking Daniels. I pick it up and open it. I smell it, yeah, smells good. I get a mouthful … oh yeah … the burning sensation as my throat struggles to accept this poison.

"Sir? Are you sure you're okay?" That's Ash. I turn to see my three companions staring at me …

"I'm fine chief, just something to numb the pain, let's go get this Turian eh?" I smile at the concern.

Shepard is the first to recover their composure, "Ash take point, Kaiden and I will provide biotic support and Mack, you stay back." She looks at me with concern, and all I can do is smile.

"Sniper support ma'am."

"You shouldn't be working with a wound like that Mack …" She really does sound worried … I sigh.

"I'll stay here and keep a eye on the survivors then, okay ma'am?" I smile, she really is paragon Shepard.

"Fine, but you will keep com's open at all times." She says, calm, collected, a great leader.

"Aye Aye Commander!" I pull my smartest salute, and they turn to find the beacon. Have fun Shep. Have fun.

It takes about twenty minutes. Twenty minutes later I get the call that Shepard activated the beacon. By that time, the smugglers/farmers have fussed over my eye, I asked what was so bad and they gave me a mirror. I mean … I look like me… my chin strap & neck beard combo, medium length hair … enough so I can have a quiff but short enough so I don't have to watch it everyday. The most … disconcernable feature is the left side of my face. The bullet had gone into my cheek, but I was shot at a close enough range that the bullet hadn't got enough momentum to shatter … only chip. But the Geth's foot had shattered my left cheek bone and punctured my eye but a stray bit of bone. Luckily, by armour is as custom as my rifle, as I'm told by one of the farmers, and had regenerating nanobot technology been automatically applied when I was hit. Saved my life this _experimental_ tech, but I can understand why Shepard was apprehensive about me still fighting.

"Mack, the Commander activated the beacon, she's unconscious, and we need evac, we'll pick you up on the way to the Normandy, okay … sir?" That was Ash, she sounded worried, as she was in game, well, a male Sheppard could capitalise on that. But I don't plan to, as I'm basically male Shepard …

"I'm right where you left me. The commander will be fine Ash, she's a tough cookie." I try and sound upbeat. God knows, I know she'll be fine. I think she's out for a few hours but … she's fine … shaken … but alive.

I'm picked up by the shuttle, an unconscious Shepard on the shoulder of one Lt Alenko. She seems fine … so does Ash and Kaiden, well, Ash has a few scratches on her armour, but no blood.

"Do we know where the Turian is?" I ask, I still need to play the unbeknownst sniper.

"He's called Saren, and we have no idea. We can only hope the council can do something." Kaiden replied.

"Yeah …" Is all I could say … Shit, are they in for a surprise.

I look out the window as we approach the Normandy, a beautiful shit. I'm speechless… a work of a beauty. As opposed to the clunky shuttles we had back in the 21st century. It's just so … sleek and …awesome.

As we board, Captain Anderson greets us, he greets me personally, but is up shit creek with everything that happened … he told us to get reports done by the time we get to the Citadel. But luckily, Dr Chakwas ordered me to the medbay to get my face checked out.

I wonder how things will go now … have I screwed up missions by been here … theres only one way to find out … and that's to survive, well, these drugs are gonna knock me out any time … now …shi …

**#####**

**This one is much longer than my intro, as it's well an entire mission ... I won't split missions up if I can help it.**

**But thanks for reading, and once again, I wrote this chapter in one sitting, so it may not be perfect. Tell me how I can improve!**

**Rock on folks. \m/ (-_-)**

**##### **


	3. Chapter 3 - Normandy Adventure Uno

**The Wounded Dragon**

(Want a song to listen to why you read? I know other writers do this, but I love to show off my taste in music, perhaps you'll find a band you'll enjoy?)

**Rammstein - Armour**

_Its dark. And raining. I can hear the pitter patter on the window. I look out. I see a girl. A beautiful girl. I know her. But I don't know her name. I want her. I need her. But who is she? She's screaming. In terror. Vorcha. They swarm her and feed. Like maggots on a corpse. I can't turn away. I am forced to watch the scavengers tear apart the girl I love. _

"_Why have you forsaken me" She cries. _

"_I didn't mean to!" I shout at the glass._

"_Hu-maaan."_

_I turn._

_They set upon me._

_The pain. _

_I love you._

I wake screaming. From the pain as well as from the horror of my nightmare. Where… where am I? Shiny ceiling … I'm … tied? To a bed … a medical bed … the name escapes me, but it's hardly important. I see … medical equipment? Scalpels … tubes … wires … the smell. The smell of disinfectant. This room … a hospital? No … a window … space? Oh shit. I'm a Mass Effect character now, aren't I?

I turn my head … the pain stops me moving much. I give a fresh cry. This time I swear, because I'm vulnerable … I'm not in control … my face in pain … but I feel woozy … the drugs … oh yeah! My face … my prior got shot in the face … by Geth who snuck up on him … pretty much killed him … but I got saved my Ashley Williams. The game doesn't give her justice. She was always the hard ass, xenophobic human. She was my favourite Mass Effect one character, along with Garrus of course, but who didn't like Garrus? He gets hit in the face by a fucking _missile_. Who doesn't think that's awesome? But Ash … she was a likeable character, someone who could be shown the light. The benefits of working with aliens. My main playthrough had her as my only romanced character, I stayed faithful in ME2 and rekindled in ME3.

But … this is only a game? I shouldn't be worrying if Ash is single … not when I'm in a hospital somewhere. Ignoring … well, trying my best to ignore the pain, I roll my head the opposite way … I see Ash asleep on the chair. She looks so … peaceful. Sleeping in a sitting position, she'll have a sore back when she wakes. I take in her features … I have to admit, she looked good with her hair let down in ME3. But the little bob style she has going on, really brings out her face. It's a strong face … you can the determination she has … even while she sleeps. Perhaps it's my fascination for girls with muscles? She's out of armour, so I can her defines. If I recall … the game makes her with a small frame. That simply isn't the case. Broad shoulders, a sign of strength, fortitude.

She seems to stir under my gaze. She wakes and lets out a small moan.

"Sleeping while sitting does that. Try stretching." I try to be funny, but it comes out all choky, and I cough as I try to smile as I finish.

"Sir … " She stands … oh shit … doesn't she do this to a male Shepard after Eden Prime … "I've seen friends die before … it comes with been a marine … but to see almost my entire unit wiped out , and you never get used to seeing dead civilians, but things would have been worse if you hadn't survived that ambush …" She looks at the floor, averting my gaze.

"I couldn't have done it without you Williams. For what it's worth … thanks for saving me." I smile at her. She does eventually return my gaze, albeit reluctantly.

"Thanks commander …" She replies. I hold her gaze, and see … did her cheeks just brighten. I saw that Miss Williams. "Sir .." She salutes. She's so stern. I give my _award winning_ smile. And he flush grows ever so slightly, "Commander Shepard … she's requested our transfer to the Normandy." She smiles as she says this, not a flirty, or a fake, but a genuine happy smile.

_Our_.

"She wants me as well?" I am surprised … I almost thought myself a liability with my face …

"Yeah, although you won't be the only sniper anymore. The Council didn't believe us, but Shepard got the help of a Turian Detective, Garrus Vakarian who's proficiency is a sniper rifle like yourself, but he's more of an Engineer than you, been an infiltrator instead." She smiles, and I have to say, it is a wonderful smile. I have a crush on a game character. I hope this isn't an extremely in depth hallucination. "Oh, and he got help from a biotic Krogan mercenary, Urdnot Wrex. Heard from the commander, he decimated Saren's contact, Fist. Bastard was planning to kill a young Quarian girl who had our evidence because someone was too lazy to get out of there drug induced coma." A side glance makes sure I know she's joking about my condition.

"That's … a surprising story. Thank god I wasn't asleep for much longer" I try to sit up, but the pain grips me again, "Fucking horse monkeys … what's happening with me? I can hardly fight if I can't even stand …" I sigh … what's going to happen? I stay here until I heal … I assume I'm on the Normandy, I can just … heal …

"The doctor says you'll be here, probably for about two missions. Until, your …" She looks at my cheek … I bring my hand up to it and feel … _metal_? "The nanobots run out of fuel … you had to have plates inserted around your skull to keep it's shape …"She looks away …

"Can I have a mirror please …" She hesitates, but she slowly reaches for a small hand mirror on the table near the door. I look myself … I don't know what I expected …

My left eye is now … a machine. Almost like Shepard's in ME2, but they're my green/yellow colour, but with blue lines running though the white section instead of capillaries. But my normally gaunt face is … well … scared. A black plate is where my left side my face is … its almost like a comic book villain … I'll admit, I wouldn't like to run into me in a dark ally …

"Shit …" Ash turns her head …

"Anything is an improvement …" She says with a wicked smile.

I laugh. It hurts. Like fuck. Ash and I talk for a few hours, mainly about random stupid stuff, but she eventually leaves after I threat to send a _naughty_ picture to her sister and she leaves the room and a rather sore bruise on my arm.

I decide to sleep … I wonder where my first mission will be. Noveria? I hope not … Feros? Or where Liara is … it's like some fucked up lottery. Rachni, Geth and zombies or Geth and Krogan. Who will be our lucky winner.

As I chuckle to my own hilarity, I hear the door open, and see none other than Commander Shepard enter the room. She's wearing casual dress now, the standard ME1 get up.

"Lieutenant Commander ********." Huh, first time I've been referred to as that, but okay.

"Yes Commander?" I'm confused … her tone was totally neutral …

"I want you to join my crew. As your superior, I am giving you an order." That's when I see the hint of a smile. I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Happily ma'am." I say with a broad smile. Bitch. My face hurts as I let out a small chuckle. "Is that all I owe to this pleasure?"

"I'm just checking my crew. We're heading to pick up Matriarch Benezia's daughter, a Prothean expert. Thought you'd want to know." She says … she still has a slight smile …

I beat her to it.

"What do you think of Asari, commander? You hear that they … enjoy human company … especially the females … it is like a forbidden fruit eh?" I say with a wink. It doesn't bother me who Shepard romances, but it's fun if I have a hand.

"I'm don't like Asari. I'm straight and if I'm honest, they are my least favourite race." She growls, completely loosing her smile … shit …

"I'm sorry commander … I was just messing .." Shit, I can't ruin our friendship with a lesbian joke.

"I have to go lieutenant …" She sucks in some air through her teeth, "I'll come and visit after I get Liara." She spins on her heel and storms out of my medical room … holy shit … this wasn't in the game … she doesn't like Asari … but why? I make a mental note to ask if I ever get the chance. Shepard was never xenophobic, well … it was a player choice …in a sense … guess that means a xenolesbian romance is out …

A sudden wave of tiredness come over me … shit was I that tired? Might as well sleep until someone wakes me …yeah …

I wake about fourteen hours later, hungry and lonely. The pain has subsided, I can move now with ease, and thankfully, with pain kept to a minimum. I walk to towards the mess hall, getting looks from almost every crew member, thanks to my … rather mysterious phantom of the opera look. I mean … I'm no Gerard Butler, but I kinda like this … this aura of mysteriousness … I feel more bad ass than normal.

As I get my meal from the … very cafeteria style, everyone lines up and takes food … remind s of my school …shit. I've been so wrapped up with the events in this universe I haven't even thought of home … which … now I think about it … I have very few memories from that life. The majority of memories are of my prior …

"He…hello? Can I … can I sit here?"

I turn my head to see a particular Quarian, Tali'Zorah vas … Neema? "Sure lass … Tali'Zorah isn't it?"

"Yeah … Tali'Zorah vas Neema nar Rayya, but just call me Tali." She pauses … I can see she's curious about my face plate, I'm just waiting for the questions … "What happened … to your … your face if you don't mind me asking …"

I smile, she is still young, naïve perhaps but she is adorable. "Of course, I was ambushed by Geth on Eden Prime." I wait for her reaction, awe stricken?

She gasps. Knowing what I know about Quarians, a Geth attack is surprising, let alone a human with half his face disfigured surviving an attack is completely unknown.

"How?! This is … You are one lucky man … I never caught your name…" She asks … a few of the other crew had been listening to us, and are waiting for my answer.

"Lieutenant Commander **** *******, but please, just call me Mack, and how did I survive? That's the easy one, the Gunnery Chief, Williams, saved my arse as I was flitting through consciousness and death. All I did was get close enough not to give the bullet enough momentum. If you want more information, ask the chief, I can't remember much about it, well, the bullet hitting me and the foot to my face, I remember that much … I'm sorry if you were hoping for some amazing story, but I let my guard down …"I sigh. I have everyone's ears, from the chef, to the huge Krogan, which has to be Wrex, in the corner. I take a look around … trying to look at everyone … I have no idea what to say …

"He then proceeded to cover us, sniping the Geth snipers and Rocket Troopers, not realising he his face was smashed." Ash stood up and stole the limelight, for which I'm grateful. All eyes turned to her.

"A third of our unit fled. They all died. Another third were killed while they were relaxing. The other third died fighting an enemy that knows no mercy. I did Mack's life. But he saved mine. I was fit and fighting. He had just regained consciousness, yet picked up his rifle and killed dozens of Geth with only one eye and internal bleeding in his skull. It look painkillers and sedatives to take him down. It is an awesome story. One for the history books. Thank you." She walks away … leaving everyone, including myself, in a shocked silence. She was passionate … about me? Fuck …

"You have a Quad my friend. Not so squishy for a human." Came a gruff voice from behind me.

"He means you have four testicles, but I assume he means it metaphorically." Came from Garrus from the end of my table.

The majority of people reluctantly returned to their jobs, leaving me and Tali, who hadn't moved since Ash's speech.

"In the fleet, you would be … probably be given your own ship. Made a Captain. Perhaps even an Admiral." She truly is awed …

"Thanks Tali, but no thanks. I couldn't look after that many people … a single back call … millions of lives are on the line." I say soberly.

"You'd be a terrible Quarian … Quarians do things for the Fleet … you do things for everyone …" Quarians are brought up with this communist attitude, so I understand her conviction.

"You'd be surprised" I say with a smile, "I'm going to find Shepard, I need to ask her something, I'll see you later lass."

She mumbled a response, then added "It was great talking to you Lieutenant."

I flash her a smile as I walk to the elevator. She seems nice, the games don't give her enough credit, she's like a nervous teenager. Really shy around everyone.

Ten minutes, and I'm still in this god damn lift, they weren't kidding about the speed of these things. Luckily, on the way to Captains Quarters, Shepard joins me in the slowness of the lift. She mumbles a greeting but ignores me. I'm too curious about this to leave it.

"Ma'am, I need to ask you about your outburst."

"It was … nothing to concern yourself with Mack." She says calmly. I can see it's something personal … but I can't bring myself to let it go.

"Shepard. That wasn't _nothing_. I hit a nerve. I'm asking as a friend." I say it slowly and with a small smile. I need to get her to trust me … if I'm to help her … or even tell her about what I know …

She sighs. "My family was killed by Asari gangsters. I ended up an orphan living on Earth with no one. Forgive me if I … take it personally …" I can see tears start to form … shit. So we have an earthborn Shepard … the game couldn't project the sadness … an earthborn Shepard was always … it was never shown how or why. Just that she was an orphan.

I hug her. And it takes her by surprise. And myself if I'm honest. From the way she was apprehensive about telling me, she hasn't told many people. And that makes me feel special. She needs a friend, and I can bet that most people drop it at 'it was nothing' but all you need is someone to push. Doesn't always work mind.

"Thank you Mack …" She whispers into my ear, crying softly, "I've never … told … anyone before …"

"It's okay Shepard … I lost my family to slavers about ten years ago …" All the feelings of my prior flooding me … the screams of my mother … my father's cries as he was beaten … I feel a tear roll down my cheek as well …

"Call me Kia …" She hugs me tighter for a second and lets go. "Thanks … I mean it …" The elevator stops and I decide to take my leave here.

"We can talk any time … Kia" I say with a smile, "I'm leaving here, I'll see you later" _Kia?_ "And it Kia short for something?" I'm inquisitive today.

"Kiara, and sure Mack" She returns my smile as I walk out of the lift, as it closes, I walk away. Well that was unexpected. I'm once again, curious who she's going to romance. Does it matter if it's like only Liara and Kaiden in ME1 … or could it be Garrus? It couldn't be Jacob … he's not here …

"Lieutenant Commander." I turn and see none other than Kaiden Alenko.

"Please, call me Mack." I say with smile, giving him my hand to shake.

To my dismay, he doesn't shake it before he speaks again. "I'm good, _sir_." His face is solid. No trace of emotion. Well, I see distaste … but that was always there. Probably why I always chose Ash at Virmire. My the sounds of, the weight of actually living in the game, I reckon I'd do the same. He's just so … I don't know, but I don't like it.

"What is your problem, _lieutenant?_" I say. I'm angry at all, but I'm a tad annoyed.

"Stay away from the Commander. She doesn't trust you. And neither do I." He thinks I'm gunning for the Commander? Well … she is great, a soft side … but no. I'm gunning for Ash.

So instead I smile.

"Scared of some competition Alenko? Seeing myself in the mirror, I can see why you'd scared." I say this, with as much arrogance I can muster. I'm not an arrogant man, I'd like to think. But the look on his face is pure gold. He almost lurches at my statement. 1 – 0 to me Alenko, "I need to see the good doctor, see you around _Kaiden_." I wink as I walk away. And once I turn the corner I chuckle.

I take the long way to medical bay, admiring the work of the ship. The game, gives it no justice. It's almost like a luxury cruise liner back home. I went to France on a cruise ship, gorgeous ships. But the Normandy puts them to shame. The floors were simply clean, I can see myself looking back.

5r

"Ah Mack, I was waiting for you. I'd like you to know, you're cleared for missions now. The Commander has gotten my report. "Dr Chakwas smiles at me, she looks busy so …

"Thanks Doc" I take a quick look around … Liara? The Asari is lying unconscious on the medical table, in her general lab tech gear. "Shit, is that … Benezia's daughter?"

"Yes," Chakwas informs me, "She tried to see Shepard's vision, and it completely exhausted her. She'll be fine though."

That's good. Last thing we need is our expert dying this early on … she's a major character in ME3 for gods sake …

"Oh, and you are to use Jenkin's room. You being the highest ranking officer gets you the honour." Thanks Chakwas. Thanks.

"Sure … thanks doc." Might as well head there.

Thanking the doc again, I head off towards my new room. Doesn't Ash get this room normally? Well it's like … right next to the medical room though, so that should be handy. The doors open …

And there's Ash, putting some things into a suitcase …

"Ash?" I say quizzically.

She jumps at my voice. I'm more quiet than I thought. "Sir! I'm sorry … I was staying here while you … recovered." She looks at the floor sheepishly … I feel a bit bad now …

"So I've kicked you out of luxury then Williams?" I say with a smile. I take gander, and there's plenty of room for two people … could move a bunk here … "You don't _have _to leave …there's plenty of room for the two of us …" I see her cheeks flair and I realise what she thinks I mean. I look at the double bed and think … well shit … so I laugh, quite heartedly too. "I meant we could bring a bunk up!" I feel my cheeks burning too, but I'm determined not to let it affect me.

She looks up at me … damn she is so cute. "Er … yeah … if you don't mind I mean … erm …" Hah!

"I'll go and grab a bunk, be prepared, I snore."

I hear her let off a small chuckle as I leave the room. Bless. I need a good sleep though. I'm curious where our next mission is.

**#####**

**Hello again, two things I need to say.**

**1 - School starts again, so updates will be slower after the next chapter I reckon**

**2 - I asked for spelling mistakes! And Reviews are great :3 **

**(I lied) 3 - I got a review saying about a dislike of xenolesbians, I was never planning to use that so don't worry. Definatley gonna have love triangle/quadrilaterals/penta...trals but all fun and games.**

**Thanks for your time**

**MacDii \m/**

**#####**


	4. Chapter 4 - Feros Part One

**Okay, I know I said that I would do missions in one go. Well I'm conscious of the fact that I'm not going to have much time to write much, half term just ended, and I'm back to doing my A-levels. I ended up having to do a two year course in one. So I have more than enough work to do, not to mention a three hour English exam just after Christmas. **

**I also like to note, I mention Hurricane Sandy, and I hope everyone affected is okay, I have a Friend lives in New York, our thoughts and prayers are with you. **

**Now the RL stuff is done, please leave more reviews! I'm not the best writer, I read through and noticed a ton of simple spelling mistakes. If you read a chapter, just leave a review of your thougts :3 it makes me feel good :3 **

**Oh! And if I leave something unexplained, if you ask about it, I'll try and answer it in the story itself, as I do with the first paragraph.**

**Thanks. **

**MacDii **

**\m/ (-_-)**

The Twisting Dragon

"How come you're … taking your wound so great? I don't know how I'd feel if I lost my good looks …" That was Garrus … with a sense of foreboding that shows you have no idea. I hope Shepard romances him. He was my favourite male romance. And how cute was he with his awkwardness? And when Mordin says, 'Don't swallow any tissue', _Pah,_ I was in stitches.

But to answer his question, I'm not entirely sure. You'd think I'd be … mildly distressed at losing my face. But I've simply accepted it. Like how Garrus takes it ME2, surprisingly well. For me, it's just another thing in this universe. Back home, this could have had easily have happened, but I'd most likely had died. I'm counting my blessings here. And this mask! I feel like a bad ass. And my prior, well, let's just say, he might look like me, but he's well shaven … off topic time.

"Have you ever been tickled so much you nearly fainted? That's much worse. I just think of the things that could make me feel worse and been tickled is the biggest one." I say with a grin. I run a hand over my mask. The doctor said I can remove it in a few weeks, and I probably will, my face feels … grimy. I hear Wrex chuckle behind. Good. I like Wrex. Too bad he wasn't a romance option … doesn't life make you wonder about the Krogan physiology.

"That's an … interesting look." Garrus is contemplating now, I hope my advice helps when ME2 comes around. If everything follows the story, then it should all be happy pickings.

But anyhow, we're currently docking at Feros, the … corporate world … that company … shit, I can't remember the name, with the mind control plant, the Thorian I think. I hated this mission on the game. Its long, with the side missions at the camp and the corporate tower, then back to camp, not/happily killing the survivors/zombies and then trudging in a giant circle full of zombies and Asari clones. Oh and the creepy plant. That looks like the Head of Bo in doctor who. Been a huge fan, that amused me.

On the ground team, it consists of me, Wrex, Garrus, Tali and Sheppard. A team of five is much more versatile than a three man. Many a time on the game, in all of them really, two men simply wasn't enough. I mean, let's say, Ash stands back with a sniper, and Kaiden to stand with you using powers, but if you were any class other than a soldier, you'd have problems, mainly with not having enough firepower, especially with Krogan Battlemasters.

"Logged; the Commanding Officer is ashore. XO Pressly has the deck." Normandy VI informed us, with her … blood curdling monotone voice. I'm glad EDI was added. She simply has more personality. This VI gives me the creeps.

"I have a bad feelings about this … Wrex, take point, Tali, stay with me, Mack, Garrus, keep us covered." Shepard gives her orders. Calm, precise. No room to misinterpret. The game doesn't capture her amazing leadership abilities like working with her does. I can understand why everyone would risk everything just following her into hell and back. A chorus of 'yes ma'am' comes from our team. A very mixed species team, may I add. Each of us moves in a particular way, Wrex, practically storming forwards, Tali and Shepard moving, almost creeping behind him, and Garrus, the professional, moving forward with a confident stride.

Of course, as in the game, the creepy guy, whose name I can't remember, been such an obscure character, who dies after this dialogue. I ready my rifle, as does Garrus, although he doesn't know about the Geth about to kill the poor fellow who already shows the indoctrination, with his blank expression. Creepy fucker.

"They're making another push. Please, up the stairs, past the freighter." The creepy guy says.

Exo-geni! That's what the corporation is called.

"Look out!" Tali can't say it quick enough. The poor man is blown to smithereens, covering Shep and Wrex in human gore. "Geth!"

Garrus and I act immediately, Garrus taking out the rocket trooper who pulverised the indoctrinated welcome committee, and I take down a sniper. Wrex and Shep take a moment to realise what happened, while Tali brings out Chitika van Paus. I take down the shields of a Geth trooper, and Wrex finishes him, the same happens for Garrus and Shep, while Chitika downs the shields and Tali round house kicks it in the torch. If that doesn't kill it, the shotgun round to the head does.

As Wrex finishes the last of them, Shep and Tali enter the first staircase. Two Geth Hoppers ambush them. Tali's shields deplete at she's hit by the first one. The second one aims at Shepard, but jumps away as Shep hits it first. I switch to my assault rifle as Garrus and I jog towards Shepard. Its not as fancy as my sniper rifle, but it's better than the standard issue Ash and Kaiden use.

Shepard's shields deplete as we get into cover, the first hopper jumps away before Wrex can get a shot off, whilst the second one lets off a sabotage on Shepard's gun. Garrus gets a hit on one of them but I miss with my burst. Christ these fuckers are fast.

A burst of assault rifle fire from both Garrus and I suppress one while Tali and Wrex take out the other one. A biotic attack from Wrex removes him from the wall, and a shotgun blast from Tali kills him. To my surprise, a concussive round from Shepard rips apart the last one, a Soldier Shepard. Cool. But I didn't think that was available until ME2 … not that I'm complaining. It was one the best powers in the game, minus throw. In my opinion.

As we turn the corner at the top of the stairwell, we see survivors aiming guns at us. Shepard salutes them and asks for directions to Fai Dan. As we walk through the camp … its more … desolate than the games can capture. The feeling of … I'm not sure how to put … everyone just seems … defeated. The giant freighter just … sits there …I know what's under it … I could tell them … we could lift the freighter up … everything would be fine… but simply explaining myself … not until I know. Not until I have some … idea of how this happened to me.

"Oh Commander! I'm glad they finally sent someone to help us!" Says Fai Dan as we approach him.

"You're a bit late, aren't you?" Comes from the ice queen next to him. I forgot about you. But I remember disliking you.

"Arcelia!" Snaps Fai Dan, he glares at her before turning back to the commander, "sorry Commander, everyone has been on edge since -"

_Click Click _

"Watch out!" Shout Arcelia, we draw out weapons and look at the tower behind Fai Dan and Arcelia, I spy a Geth sniper and a trooper, but I know there's more filling that tower.

I dive – literary _dive_, forward roll and all – getting a raised eyebrow from Shepard and an amused grunt from Wrex. Being the professional that I am, I smirk, and blind fire towards the tower entrance. My suppression allows Tali and Garrus to get into cover, and Shep joins me. Wrex tries to fire his shotgun but it jams and he says some Krogan curse that my translator doesn't translate.

As Garrus fires his sniper rifle, I pop out of cover and aim down my sights. About three Geth troopers are trying to aim at us, without avail, the rocket trooper gets hit by Garrus' second shot. I fire a small burst and take down the shields of the sniper before he lines up his sights. As he fires, I move, and I see the bullet trail where my head was. Shit. It's only just dawning on me what's happened … I've killed … I've nearly been killed … this is dangerous …

"Mack, are you okay?" I feel Shepard's reassuring hand on my shoulder, and I instinctively put my hand on it. Something flashes in her eyes. I then proceed to flinch as I realise what I just did. My girlfriend … my love back home … a hundred and seventy years ago … would do that to reassure me … and to show I appreciated it, I would cover her hand with mine and kiss her. Shepard also flinches at my reaction and looks away from me. I have an annoying habit, as it turns out, of trying to keep eye contact during a conversation. And I must have been making her uncomfortable with my gaze.

"Thanks Kia, just … moment of reflection." I say, flashing her a smile.

I pop out of cover to shoot, and realise … everything's dead.

"Okay … let's move to clear the stairs" Comes Shep from next to me … I hope things don't get awkward … I mean … shit. What was that back then?

Before I can recover from my … lapse … a hopper overloads Wrex's shields, while two more suppress Tali and Garrus. Shepard drops to one knee … and expertly takes down a hopper with just a small burst. Trying not to look so impressed, I fire at the suppressers, depleting bother their shields before a shotgun blast takes them both out.

Cool, we're getting better.

As we reach the top of the stairs, we see a female colonist dead, recently … extremely recently … her burns are still fresh. Before we can take this in, a drone flies past us, almost taking Tali's head off. I go to shoot, but it flies around the corner behind I can get a good shot.

We follow it. Well … Wrex follows it. By the time I turn the corner, there's four dead Geth and a happy Krogan.

I sigh, and for some reason, I take point. I'm too fussed … but someone has to do it. I look to my right and see the lift that takes us to where we start our Mako journey to Exo-Geni. I think the way to go is straight onwards though …

"Mack, go back and inform Fai-Dan we're almost done."

You have to be fucking kidding me. My face must show what I'm thinking.

"Reassure them. Something about them …the colonists …nothing but a gut feeling. Just see if they need any help." Shepard looks stern. I can understand her reasoning … but I don't like it.

"Aye aye, Commander." I say, spinning on my heel. And you have no idea Kiara Shepard.

I march past my team, I ignore them all, making my displeasure known. They have a huge fight coming up. If I'm not mistaken a Juggernaut is there. I'm confused as why she chose me to stay though …

"We must protect the heart of the colony." Fai-Dan says to his colonists.

"Fai-Dan," I call out, "The commander is finishing the last of the resistance in the tower."

"Thank the heavens." He was obviously shocked … strained … even terrified. But he's a good man, and I like him.

"Is there anything I can help with?" I say with a smile. They need help really badly … its almost like how I imagined New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, or New York and the Caribbean after Hurricane Sandy.

He stares blankly at me. And so does … his ice queen of a guard. I also … the air has stopped … nothing is moving. A man lowering his gun has stopped mid-motion …

"_Hu … Humaaan …_"

I turn in horror.

I turn to see … _the _Vorcha … the fucker who removed me from my own time. My family. Everyone I had ever loved. Everything I had ever known. And he's here. I start to see red. Anger … I've never … _ever _felt before … all of my pent up emotions … I lunge at him. Snarling. All my terror dissipating. I want to kill him.

He is quicker than me. He grabs my arm and almost dislocates it. I moan in pain, but I use my free arm to deliver a right hook to his face. He releases my arm, but growls at me.

"We are … we are not your … enemy humaaan" the rational side of me tells me to listen. But I ignore it.

"You destroyed my life." I state simply.

I lunge again. This time, the Vorcha doesn't hold back. He does … some weird jujitsu style move that involved kicking and grappling. By the time I realise what the hell happened, he's speaking again.

"This is bigger than just you humaaan. All will be revealed … in time. But there is something that mussst happen." He pauses for effect. For a vermin race, they sure know melodrama.

"Do not change events. Some things must always happen. While there are choices, there are set events. If these events change. The future … _my_ future will happen."

And just like that … he's gone.

In the words of Captain Anderson – 'Things just got a whole lot more complicated.'


	5. Chapter 5 - Feros Part two

**The Dragon, the Villain and the Wardrobe **

**Born on a Horse - Biffy Clyro**

_My future_… what did he mean? _His_ future? So … he's not of this universe … or even my universe? I was from 2012 … the year is 2183 I think … so what was he from? He looked just like a blood pack Vorcha … maybe he was lying? Are Vorcha even space faring yet? I'm not entirely sure how the blood pack got them as their foot soldiers.

"Erm ... are you alright?" Fai-Dan asks with a worried look. "You blanked on us for a second …"

I decide to try something. "I dunno … I got weird feeling … like someone inside my head … huh, its nothing, I'm fine."

He practically blanches. And I see other colonists all look at me … all of them with confused or worried looks. I think I just kicked the hornet's nest.

"Fai-Dan." He and … the bitch, I forgot her name again, it couldn't be important, turn around and see Shepard, Garrus, Wrex and Tali coming back from the tower. Even a blind man could sense …well tell something was up. Like … everyone was staring at me. Fai-Dan gave Shep his full attention but the ice queen bodyguard just returned her glare at me … but it was less of a glare and more of glazed look. I may have confused the Thorian. Only me.

"We … cleared … the … tower … erm … what did you do …" Shepard is as confused as the Thorian, and she should be, she doesn't know it exists.

"Nothing … I blanked … and everyone started staring at me …" I chuckle nervously. How am I supposed to explain this predicament.

"The Geth may have been slowed … but they'll be back. They always come back." Says Arcelia, I think that's her name … anyway, she says it while turning back to Shepard.

"Tell me what the Geth want. Why are the Geth attacking you?" Shepard says, simply sparing me a glance before turning to Arcelia and Fai, an edge to her voice.

"If you want answers, go ask them yourselves." replies Arcelia, dripping with sarcasm. Ooh, I like you even less.

"We don't know what they're after. They came, they attacked us. That's all we know." Fai-Dan add quickly. No point pissing off your saviours, before they've actually saved you. I notice all the colonists who were staring at me have stopped, and went back to what ever they were doing. The Thorian is definitely clever.

"Their main base is the ExoGeni Headquarters. A good place to start looking if you want answers." continues Fai-Dan, he seems like a genuinely nice guy, wanting to help his people. I'm sad he shoots himself.

I assume Shepard is going to inquire how to get there … can't we help the colony as well?

"How do we get there?" Shepard inquires, right on cue.

"The skyway leads directly to Exogeni Headquarters. You can't miss it." Chips in Arcelia. She can be useful when she wants to be.

"Of course, but there's an army of Geth between here and there." Way to drop the mood Fai.

Shepard, naturally, says with a smile, "We didn't expect this would be easy."

"Then maybe I can get this colony operational again." Fai-Dan adds. He seems … chirpier. As opposed to how he was before. Well, he has hope now. Which is … well I doubt he expected it … from what I remember from the codex, Feros is … a crappy world. Full of prothean ruins with very little room for agriculture. ExoGeni wanted to …_help_ humanity. But it was more for research.

As Shepard asks about the problems of the colony, I still notice side glances from the colonists. Won't Saren need to see the Thorian … isn't that what sets off the zombie controlling … ness? I mean … Saren feeds the Thorian that Asari … then tries to kill it … but the Thorian wins … but then Shep comes in … and shit goes to hell …

"Okay, everyone come round" We all stand in a circle … like what I'd do before a Rugby game back home, the Gameplan, so to speak.

"There's power, food and water problems. There's also come Geth in the tunnels. But we need to go to ExoGeni. So I'm thinking. Mack, go back to the Normandy, and get Liara and Ash, you three can help the colony while the rest of us cross his bridge and find some answers. Everyone understand?" She has an aura. Nothing I could say could explain … the feeling you get when she gives you orders … she makes me … want to impress her. Shit.

A chorus of acceptance goes around us. And I head towards the Normandy, Shep stops me.

"I'm sorry I sent you back … your hesitation could have had affected us …" She says this, and I understand her fears, she thinks I'm a liability. "I don't want you to die Mack … you're my unofficial second in command here …" I am the second highest rank … so I understand this logic too. I still think she's worrying unnecessarily.

"I'll be fine … Kia" My voice breaks at her name … and I'm not sure why, I mean, my voice is quite deep, so when I'm scared or worried, I tend to raise it a few octaves. But it doesn't normally break mid conversation.

I clear my throat and flash a smile. She still doesn't look convinced.

"Help this colony Mack." She returns my smile but before she turns, "Clear the tunnels first, then ask Fai-Dan about the food and water. Last thing you need is to be jumped by Geth while turning on the water."

I salute, "Aye aye commander."

Let's go and get Ash and Liara then. Yeah boi.

"Huh, plenty of aluminum here, eh?" Ash asks me … or tells me, it's probably rhetorical. But it annoyed me she said aluminium wrong.

"I pronounce it aluminium… 'cause there's an 'I' next to the 'u' and the 'm'" I sing, mimicking Born on a horse, the Biffy Clyro song. I make sure to outfit my singing with as much Scottish accent as possible.

Ash just snorts.

"It's weird … how did humans reach space without a universal language?" Liara says, inquisitively. I like her. She's curious, and not as uptight as Ash. It feels a bit bigoted to say, but I'm yet to see an alien to take my fancy … sure, Liara looks human like, minus the tentacles and … blue skin, but that simply doesn't interest me. And that's surprising. I consider myself sexually curious, and interspecies relationships interested me. Anyway.

"We reached space because of our ideological differences."I say, "Two superpowers made it into a race to see who was better." Thinking of the cold war. "It almost started a third world war. A war like the one that ruined Tuchanka."

I sigh, but Ash snorts again. "We're as strong as the Krogan and as clever as the Salarians. We're a mix of the races specialities really." I'm entirely sure about that sentiment. We're not as naturally strong as the Krogan or Turian, perhaps the same as Asari, without the natural biotics as well. We don't think as fast Salarians either. In my opinion, we're much more like Turians, without the natural body armour. We have had similar military history, minus the universal government. If anything, I personally can compare the Hierarchy is similar to the Third Reich. Or even perhaps the Soviet Republic. More so like the communists, required military service, a feeling of everyone before yourself, I know there were other examples, but those are the few that come to mind.

"Humans have lots of cultures … which impresses the Asari … amazing problem solving abilities, which impresses the Salarians … not to mention a military that equals the Turians, although they'd never admit it." Liara frowns, "humans intimidate the other species because they have potential and know it …" She looks at us … then her eyes widen, "I didn't mean … I don't …"

I smile at her, "We understand Liara, I agree." Ash looks at me pointedly. But I ignore her and continue my opinions, "Humans have been here… well not long enough, while I'm not sure the council is good government, humans are too pushy."

Liara looks at me. Perhaps I'm the only one who thinks this by the stare Ash also gives me.

"Few people look at it so … in so much detail … they just think that they are the best …" She gives Ash a nervous glance, if she notices it, Ash doesn't do anything, she just … glares at me. "Spit it out Ash."

She opens her mouth to say something. But quickly changes her mind. She then frowns … perhaps I changed her whole xenophobia ideals, "I'm calling bullshit _sir_."

Oh.

"Humanity _survived_ against the Turians in the First Contact, we fucking retook Shanxi. We are on par with Turians." She says it with a fire with I find … in all honesty, sexy. I can feel myself … _ogling_ her as she talks. "We survived the same problems that the Drell had, without the _help_ of the Hanar. We invented things that even the Salarians didn't think of. Movies and music from almost two hundred years ago are topping charts in the Citadel. Fucking Metallica and Black Sabbath have become number one hits on Palaven, Turian tribute bands are popping up all over the known Galaxy. Like the Kogan, we can adapt to any situation and our special forces are the best."

Liara simply contemplates.

Of course, we've turned on the water and cleared out the Geth. We also talked to the crazy man and on our way back we started talking. I remember why I didn't like this mission. If we don't do these side missions then … well the colony fails after we save it …

In the distance, we see a shuttle land where the Normandy is. That I don't remember.

"Ash, did you just see that shuttle?" I ask breaking the silence.

"I did … reinforcements?"

"Doubt it." I snort, who goes into the … Saren.

"Shit, double time." I start running, I get a confused look from Liara, but I think Ash has a similar brainwave.

"You think it's the reason the Geth are attacking?"

"I'd bet my left arm." I say with determination.

We jog back towards the camp. I know I can't kill him. It would … twist cannon … well … destroy it really … but … I can't think of a reason I shouldn't. Perhaps I could save more colonists? Or even Fai-Dan if … but Saren needs to get the cipher. Or he won't find … is it the Mu Relay? Ilos? And the mini mass relay? Its imperative Saren beats us … which is actually hard to believe. We're supposed to save the universe … but if the Geth attack doesn't happen … no one will be ready for the ME3 events and Humanity might not get it's councillor … the coup won't happen … Anderson might not even be on Earth during the attack … which means the resistance is all but nonexistent.

As we re-enter the camp, Fai-Dan runs over to us. As he gets closer … I notice … the Thorian has more control. That much is obvious … Fai is fighting it … but it doesn't look like he's winning.

"Another Spectre arrived! One of the best as Arceilia tells me. They're going to rescue us …" He says. He's trying to enthusiastic but … he wouldn't convince a three year old.

"But that's what the Commander is doing!" She sounds a little mad. As you would, thinking someone is going to try and take the glory. She then realises that they aren't here … coming the only way to Exogeni. "Where are they anyway?"

Fai then looks at me. "They are going to talk to …" He grabs his head, seemingly in pain. The Thorian …

"Are you alright?" Liara. Ever the doctor. Even if she's not a medical one. A soothing voice too, I wish my doctor had her voice. Well … he would have sounded silly, but I wish he could speak … softly.

"No. Get to the Freighter … under the crane..." He looks in serious pain. I can tell Liara wants to help … but if Saren attacks the Thorian, the colonists attack everyone.

"Come on Liara … I have a funny feeling that this spectre is Saren." Her response is a simple shocked expression. But she isn't stupid. Why on Earth would another Spectre be here? Shepard is the only human one, and I doubt any other species would come to the aid of small colony.

"We'll back Fai-Dan." She promises. I feel sorry for her … I really do. She wants to help everyone … I understand what that's like … but even I know that that isn't always possible. He nods, and points towards the freighter.

As we jog towards our destination, most of the colonists are having similar symptoms. The others are already mindless zombies … just standing … swaying … like being drunk … it's extremely disconcerting.

We turn the corner and see a Krogan at the controls of the crane, flanked by two Asari. Asari Commandoes. Fuck.

I pull out my assault rifle from its magnetic … holster … I suppose that's what you'd call it, and drop to one knee. I aim down my sights, noticing Ash doing the same thing. Liara is bit slower, but gets the message. Ash fires first, giving one of the Commandoes a bad day. The three shot burst hits home every time, two in the chest and one in the throat. They don't have their shields up, which is good for us, so I copy Ash and hit the other Commando with my burst, hitting her stomach twice, and her arm with the Third. The Krogan looks at us in surprise, but his instincts don't fail him, and he draws his shotgun. Before he can use it however, Liara has lifted him with her biotics, and then slams him into the ground. A crackling comes from one of the Asari, it's faint.

"…Wha… ever..ng good? … Is an… there?..." I then see a flicker in the eye lid of the Asari I took down. I have a funny feeling she isn't dead. So crouch near her head, and lift her uninjured hand. I then hold it over her face … and let go. Just before it hits her face… her arm moves. Gotcha.

"I know you're alive." I say, adding as much venom into my voice as possible.

She opens her eyes … fear. Fear is what I see. And confusion.

"What are you doing here?" I say, trying not to soften my voice. Lives are at stake, there's no time for sentiments.

"The … Thorian…" She coughs … blood comes out … and I can't take it. I don't see myself able to torture someone … and this is torture, while it may not be … typical water boarding torture, this comes under my perception of it.

"Make peace with your gods, and enjoy your heaven" I say softly, expertly drawing my bowie knife from my ankle, and sliding it into her heart. Her face flickers for a second … acceptance and forgiveness. The one thing I hate about this universe … the people I kill are … people. People with feelings. How many orphans and widows have I made? Memories of my prior … they show him … _me_ … as bitter … cold … heartless … memories showing … looking into their eyes and killing them … one of the main emotions I feel … pleasure …

I throw up. I manage to throw myself to one side and hit the side of the … freighter I suppose.

Liara rubs my back …

Shit … that's my first kill … not including Geth …

I throw up again …

Fucking fuck fuck. Think of the forgiveness. She forgave me. She was indoctrinated by Sovereign. When I killed her, she was released. I saved her.

"Mack …" Liara starts … probably something sentimental.

"I'm fine. Do you two reckon we follow them? Or wait for Shep?" I say … I feel shaky still … but I'll make it.

"If Saren's down there, I want to gut him myself." Ash says, quite cold heartedly too.

"And I want to find out what happened to my mother …" Liara says, with more conviction than usual.

"Then it's settled. Let's go." I say with a smile. It's forced …

Ash approaches the cavern first. Liara has a shotgun out, as does Ash at a second glance. I have my assault rifle and sniper, I didn't expect close quarters … although I knew we would have went down here at some point anyway … I thought the other five of us would have made up for the fact I lack an appropriate weapon. We had Wrex.

I choose my assault rifle … because I'd be a moron to use my sniper down there.

I take the rear, while Ash takes point, Liara in the middle. Been a man … a rather … _hormonal_ man, takes the …_rear_ _position_ seriously. And Ash's is much better. Liara is too … small for my liking, while Ash has the muscle aspect which simply makes me … "Hold up." Ash!

But we hear Saren. He has an awesome voice. It's perfect for the Villain of epic precautions. He'd give Darth Vader a run for his money easily. Let's just hope Saren isn't my father.

"Give me the cipher and I will give you the Asari. I will even help with the Geth attack." There's the Villain. I see Ash tense, she wants his head on a plate. But she can't have it. Not yet. We edge closer, and I peek around the corner. Three Krogan, two Asari and Saren, oh and the Thorian controlled Asari too. I think it's the real one too, not the … phlegm covered clones. And I have to say … Saren looks more like a villain than in my scope. Its simply not the same as using your eyes. Like Shepard, he has an aura around him, but … well of pure evil. Contempt. He's … awesome.

"Meld with this Asari and you will get your cipher, _Turian_." says the Asari. It's weird hearing this Asari refer to herself in third person. Mack was making a sandwich. Mack was running out of juice. See? Silly.

"As you wish" Saren replies. His voice … sends me shivers. It's … terrifying.

He steps out and the Asari places her hands on Saren's chest. Her eyes go … funky while Saren simply closes his.

While I wait for Saren to get the cipher, I examine the Thorian. I have no idea why I thought it looked like the face of boe. Why on earth would I have thought that? Mixing memories perhaps? I have no idea … it's more like a giant bug … with weird vein like tentacles everywhere. Like almost everything in this game, it's much more intimidating in person. I'm not sure how it works … but it uses spores to control people right … but if you are strong willed enough you can resist … like that guy in the tunnels … and I assume us … Shepard's team … perhaps it's like radiation? It has to add up to have an effect.

I look back at the girls, Ash is still watching intently, gripping her tight enough that the Krogan equivalent would crush it, while Liara watches with … morbid curiosity. I want to ask them questions … but I don't want to alert Saren. I look back at him, admiring his features. His plates … I shiver … I would not want to get into a fist fight with him.

He opens his eyes, without staggering like Shepard does, which suggests he's melded before … go on Saren you playa. He grunts, and I realise what is about to happen. The Thorian … _sucks_ up the Asari and … squeals in … delight I suppose …

"Kill it."

At this simple command, the Krogan fire at the Thorian, while the Asari use biotics on it. To their dismay, this does nothing. The Thorian realises he's been betrayed, and then the … Thorian creepers, I think they're called, swarm Saren's troops. One Asari literally gets eaten alive. They bite and claw, and shields don't appear to have an effect. The Krogan fair better than the Asari, beating them back with brute efficiently.

Saren realises he's out numbered and turns to leave. I see my chance. I step out of cover and call him.

"Saren!" I shout.

He looks at me. His mandibles twitching.

"Lieutenant Commander ********.You were a target on Eden Prime. I got the message you had been shot. Nice mask." He replies. I'm shocked he knows who I was. I need to find out more about my prior.

As we talk, there's a lull in the fighting. The Thorian realises we're not with Saren, but is scared. The creepers all get confused without leadership. The remaining Krogan take advantage and shotgun down the confused zombies. Ash steps out in front of me, Saren takes advantage of this and charges forward. Ash gets tackled back into me and we tumble backwards, and I feel my head hit a step. My sight goes woozy. Ash was hit with some force. I should have expected that in all fairness, Saren was one of the top spectres. I see him punch Liara in the face, whipping her head back in a horrible angle. She hits the floor with a thud.

I feel Ash's weight get off me, and I feel the weight get off my … feels like a broken rib. But to my avail, it wasn't Ash that moved. It was Saren that moved her. Grabbing my face, and holding it close to his. He whispers.

"You humans are a blight on the galaxy. The Reapers will make quick work of your species." His words are dripping with contempt. He hates humans. I'm not sure how his brother died, I never read the story, but was something to do with reaper tech I think … then humans did something … I don't know.

"Sovereign will die. Shepard will stop them. The Reapers will fear the species – Human." I say. I say it with strength. I know we will stop the Reapers. And I know I have to help. I wouldn't be here if it was that easy.

He snarls at my response. And he turns to face the Thorian.

"All humans will betray you Thorian." He snarls. I glance at Ash and Liara and see that they are both unconscious. I'm kinda of glad, knowing I slipped about Sovereign. It's only time until Saren figures out that I shouldn't have known.

He doesn't realise right now. He sprints back to shuttle, presumably to sovereign somewhere near. I look back at the Krogan, and realise there's only one left and he's roaring. I also notice that two creepers are coming for me. Shit.

I struggle to my feet, and pull out my pistol. I shoot both of them with ease. What they lack in strength, they make up for in numbers. Considering Ash and Liara are unconscious, this is going to be hard.

Taking down two more creepers, I put my pistol away, and prop Liara against the wall, while putting Ash on one shoulder. I bend over and put Liara on the other. I'm not going to lie, it's not easy to carry two unconscious women. I climb the stairs, and I'm noticing the fact I'm moving at a snail's pace, so I try and push myself.

As we reach the top, the roaring of the last of Saren's Krogan stop and I know I have to hurry. I see five dead colonists, I assume that's where Saren escaped. I'll have to make a dash for the Normandy. But I don't … I won't make it … fucking fuck.

"Ugh" is the noise Liara makes are she stirs. Okay, this is good.

"Liara, I need you to run to the Normandy." She looks dazed, and I'm not surprised, Asari aren't made for physical strength, not like Turians.

"Uh … yeah …" She looks better … she starts to run towards where the Normandy is … that's a start.

I'm right behind her, dragging Ash with me. A bullet hits the wall next to me. Shit. I pick up the pace, and I see the shuttle fly off as we reach the dock.

_Crackle – chshh_

"I repeat, Normandy to Shore party. Are you reading? Anyone there? Normandy to Shore party? Come on, Commander, talk to me!" Joker. About fucking time.

"Is that you, Joker? What's going on over there?" Shepard's alive. I'm definitely glad. I doubt Geth would give her any problems.

"We're in lockdown here Commander. Something happened to the Colonists. They're banging on the hull, trying to claw their way inside the ship. They're freaking out." That's going to be a problem, we might have to shoot out way past …

"They can't do any real damage. We're on our way back. Just hold your position." She's calm. Good, I need to radio in but … Liara is over by the wall opposite to me, and we can see the colonists now. They are literally clawing at the airlock door.

"Uh… yeah. Okay. Well, we'll just wait right here for you, commander." Replies Joker. Is no one even going to ask about us?

"I assume Mack, Ash and Liara made it back?" Thank you Kia, nice to know someone cares. But I can't reply because of the colonist so close to us … they'll swarm us if I make a noise …

"No Ma'am … I thought they were with you …" Joker sounds concerned. Thank you too Joker.

"Shit, I'm coming ASAP." She sounded … worried. I've never heard her … worried before. About me perhaps? Yeah. That makes me smile.

I loosen my hold on Ash, and wait for an opportunity to take down this colonist. I'll knock him out, I assume Shep doesn't want us to kill them …

It feels like hours, but it's only been a couple of minutes. But he turns long enough for me to be comfortable enough to grab his head and slam it into the wall. It's a sickening thud but I simply don't have enough time to check if he's okay, so I lean over to Liara.

"I'll distract them, when they've gone, take Ash and get into the Normandy." I say, making sure I smile.

She nods … but looks worried … but I need to save them.

So I stroll over behind the large-ish group and get on my radio, "Shepard, we got attacked by Saren. The Thorian is under the Freighter. If the freighter isn't in the air, use the Crane."

The group hear me. Shit. There's about … two dozen colonists … all of them turn and sprint at me. Fuck.

So I run back towards the freighter.

"Mack!" I hear Shepard shout.

"Holy shit. Commander he lead away the group at the airlock away!" Joker cries in response. I smile. I'm awesome.

Glancing back, I see the colonists still on my tail. I'm nervous about getting further into the camp, but I need to.

"Shepard, it's Liara, Mack saved Ash and I by distracting the group. He's going to run back into the camp." Good, they made it. This wasn't for nothing.

Shepard replies but I crash into a creeper. Shit, as I scramble to my meet I hear the group behind me moaning. There were only 16 in game! The creeper as looks as surprised as I do. He moans and tries to throw up his poison toxic sludge stuff at me. I dodge it and it hits another creeper who, true to his title, crept up behind me.

I sprint into the Freighter. Into the room, where I think, in game, there was a guy in medical situation of some kind. I drag a table and block the door's panel. I then put a lock with a basic firewall on it. Thank god to my prior's skills. Wait a minute … shouldn't I have a tactical cloak … It's important right now.

"Shepard. It's Mack. I'm in the freighter. Take out the Thorian. Saren wanted a cipher of some kind, I'd bet my arse it's to do with the vision. But the Thorian isn't happy." I inform. Shepard needs as much help as possible.

All I get is crackling in response. I guess I don't have a signal. As I someone tried to contact me, they heard me. The Banging on the door subsided after a couple minutes … giving me a sense … let's have a look. I'm no fan of Zombies, the scariest mythical creature. Dracula got nothing on them. I open the door and see the Salarian merchant … he groans then hits me. I didn't no they could use weapons. The second hit knocks me to the floor. Shit head. Seems he got a pipe from somewhere. The third hit makes me questions reality, and the fourth takes me into … flashbacks I suppose. My family back home … Ash … Shepard …

Gunfire brings me back … the Salarian is still standing above me … he never sees it coming. Tali swings with her shotgun to knock him out. I smile at her … then the darkness takes over.

* * *

A jolt wakes me.

Unfortunately I open my eyes too quick, and I'm blinded.

"Sh Mack" The voice is soft, kind.

"Okay voice … hmmm … more drugs …" The angelic voice laughs. A beautiful chuckle.

"More drugs, okay ****" My first name? It sounds cute from her …

"I should say … you sound like an angel … am I dead?" I slur my words, fucking drugs. I hope this isn't going to happen after every mission.

Another beautiful chuckle.

"You're back on the Normandy. Tali saved your life." I feel myself dozing, but I want to put a face to the voice. I should recognise the voice … but I'm too drugged up.

"Tell her … I'll buy drinks … or nutri… nutri … that paste she eats …" I hate drugs.

Another beautiful laugh sends me off to dream world.

* * *

I'm out for a few hours while I recover. In that time, Ash thanks me for saving her and I simply tell her it wasn't a problem. I'm also not in the mood for talking so I send her on her way. Shepard also comes and tells me about the cipher. I nod my agreement. I think about asking her about my drugged adventure but I go against it. I want to alone for now. I'm exhausted. She leaves and says Noveria is next. I smile. Fucking Rachni.

When I'm up and ready I need to ask about Ash about my Prior … how am I supposed to disguise that? Too tired to think. Tomorrow … so warm and cozy … mmm

**#####**

**Welcome back :3 **

**My first note, a bit of research, and it turns out Saren goes to Feros before the Geth attack! And the Thorian doesn't attack Shep because it thinks Shep can defeat the Geth, but it has feelers all over the ground! So when he realises Shepard knows, it thinks Shep will betray it like Saren. Of course, in my version of events, the Thorian isn't as over powered, more realistic IMO.**

**And my longest chapter ... I'm not gonna lie, I advance events quicker than most of SI writers, and Im extremely conscious of that :3 **

**Keep in mind this is the first thing I've written ... and well posted it for reviews :3 **

**So review god dammit! :3**

**Rock on Folks **

**MacDii**

** \m/ (-_-) \m/**

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	6. Chapter 6 - Normandy Adventure Dos

**Get in there Dragon**

**Unterart - Now or Never (Random song, not much, if any relevance, its just fucking awesome)  
**

_/Loading Codex_

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_/Loading Human Alliance entries_

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_/Accessing Notable Persons Directory_

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_/Accessing Personnel Records – Lieutenant -Commander ******** "Mack" ********_

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_##### Codex Entry #####_

_Lieutenant-Commander ********, or, "Mack" as he commonly prefers, even by his subordinates under his command, was born in a colony on the planet of Mindoir, located in the Attican Traverse. When Batarian slavers raided the colony, Mack was one, of a minority of survivors not captured. An Alliance patrol rescued the survivors, and two years later, Mack enlisted into the Military. _

_He proceeded to rise through the ranks, through skill in weapons, primarily with a sniper rifle, but had considerable skill at range with a pistol, and currently holds the Citadel Record for the 'Most Concessive Headshots Over a 200 (Human Standard) Metres', all at the age of 24. Soon after this feat, he applied for the N7 project, which he surpassed. Other skills include high intelligence and impressive tactics skills._

_At the age of 26, he became a Special Operations Joint Commander. His most notable achievement was on a pirate base in the heart of the Batarian Space. His co-commander was assassinated by a corrupt Ensign, one who had been accepting bribes – Ensign Makyle J__ü__rgen, and was quickly captured by Mack himself – but the then current Staff Lieutenant, interrogated and discovered the exact location of the pirate base. Despite his superior demanding an orbital bombardment, he launched one of the most successful slave rescue missions in history, saving almost three hundred slaves without a single casualty. This impressive feat catapulted Mack up the Alliance Chain, becoming second in heroics only to Commander Shepard herself. _

_Along with Shepard, Mack was also considered for the Spectre position but declined the opportunity in favour of helping Eden Prime, in memory of Mindoir. _

_He is a known associate of Commander Shepard and is assisting in the first Human Spectre in apprehending the rogue Spectre – Saren Arterius._

Holy shit.

I decided to research my prior, only to find my own codex. _That _got me excited, but … I didn't expect this. My prior … was a _Hero._ No denying. Unlike Shepard, my prior never got the publicity. Also doing a quick search confirmed my suspicions, she was a Spacer/War Hero and a soldier class.

Huh. I want to talk to her next chance I get.

But, as I've been declared unfit for a mission, I'm confined to the ship. The doc said I could get my face plate removed next chance I get, but the plates fused with my skull can't be taken out at all. Most of those aren't visible though. But it should still give me an … intimidating edge if I need it.

"Mack? Hey, nice to see you up again" Garrus says with a smile. Seems a fine way to blow time, to me.

"Thanks man, I'll miss the _extreeeemly _comfy beds in medical though" Garrus chuckles at that, glad I remember his sarcastic sense humour. I know most things about Garrus … but it could hurt to ask him about himself, "So Garrus, how come you were so happy to join us on our escapade?"

His smile drops, only slightly but it's noticeable, "Red tape, I had plenty of incidences that what a Spectre can do, would have help immensely."

"But isn't the red tape used to protect the rights of potentially innocent people who get arrested?" I say inquisitively, I'm not entirely ensure why all the red tape is there in all honesty …

"That's a minor reason. The people who make these rules haven't been in the situation where the bad guy escapes, because of the rules they make." He's lost his smile completely. The game simply doesn't capture his passion. He truly believes that more police powers would be beneficial. Look at East Germany, see that ended up? But on a scale hundreds of times bigger, it would be catastrophic.

"History shows too many police powers don't work though, why would it suddenly work on the citadel? And with all different races, a simple racist claim could send the place into uproar." I say calmly. I'm mostly bullshitting now, but I'm truly against it.

He looks at the floor, and then looks at me, "You sound like Shepard. Said something similar, I've got stuff to do, I'll see you later." Aaaaaand he's gone.

Last thing I want to do is to piss off the Turian …

Huh, I'm in the mess hall now, and it's pretty empty … huh. As I walk over I notice not even Kaiden is here … we must be at Noveria. I wasn't too keen on the first game overall – I played it death when it came out – Noveria always ended up been a chore. The starting section … not so bad … little happens but it's not too bad, but once you get to base, there was just SOO much to do.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

I jump at the voice behind me. Turning I see its Ash, "Shit you scared me there" I chuckle. I also notice she has a tray of food, "and yes, you may join and bask in my presence"

She returns my chuckle, "Oh ow, your head, it's crushing me!" She says with mock terror. I like Ash, she has my sense of humour. "But it's good to see you up again."

"Thanks Ash, means a lot coming from you" I say with a … frankly, a coy smile.

"Hah, don't get so full of yourself." She smiles, and I swear her face turns a nice shade of red. Should I continue flirting? I shouldn't …

"Well, you look quite good today." Her eyes open at my compliment. And … I find I actually mean it. Her hair is in her bun, as per usual, but simply her complexion is … beautiful. And the blush she pull is pretty adorable. I never understand why Tali is always chosen for a self-insert. Ash simply has a presence, a strong independent presence, as opposed to Tali being naïve and perfect for people who like naivety. I don't. Just for the record.

"Aha … thanks …but I …" She frowns, "Even if I do fall for your …_charms_ we couldn't do anything … we work together you fool … it'd be … weird …" My smile dissipates too, and then I sigh.

"If you don't mind me asking, how come you never got promoted past Gunnery Chief?" I know the answer, but I can tell she doesn't want to be hit on again.

"My grandfather." She snorts, "He was the Governor of Shanxi and gave the order to surrender." She says this with venom, I simply never expected.

"Yeah …but why would that affect you?" I inquire.

"Family history. Its like his burden has become mine. Brass just doesn't want me." She's looks at her hands as she says this. She's angry. And she's trying not to bite her nails. I know the feeling.

"But you're a great soldier!" I state. And remember from my codex, "I mainly got promoted on my skill…"

"You don't understand Mack!" she looks at me with wide eyes … "It pisses me off … it hurts … they don't trust me for mistakes I _never_ would have made." I gain a new level of respect for her, I struggle to show my sensitive side … especially to someone who was just flirting with me.

"At least you have a family you can still talk to." I point out. I try to leave all traces of bitterness out of my voice. But my prior's feelings surface, and the simple fact of being ungrateful for what she has.

She goes to growl, I can see that by the way her jaw clenches, but then has an epiphany and remembers my prior's , although she thinks it's mine, history. "I'm sorry Mack …" I cut her off mid-sentance with my hand.

"You had nothing to do with that raid." I say.

She looks like she wants to cry. She starts to say something else, but she just … gah! Her arms wrap round me and squeeze me.

"Erm … hey Ash …" I try and get out but she simply pulls tighter.

"You need to open up more."

It takes about five minutes but I manage to pry her off. "I have to go and see … do something" I say with a smile, she looks a little upset so I add, "thanks Ash …" and her smile is instantaneous.

* * *

"Fucking piss wank cock sucking fuck fuck."

"Swearing will not help with the pain."

"It's making me feel better."

"That's the medigel. Your free to go." Despite the pain and sarcasm, Chakwas is a pretty good doctor.

"Thanks doc …" I say softly, "I'm sorry about swearing …" I add sheepishly.

"I've had worse. Now go, Liara has exhaustion from melding with Shepard. Any more facial pain, then come see me." She was basically shoving me out of her room. I sigh as I walk out. And then I stroke my face. Without the face plate on, I feel more human again. It's weird … I feel like myself … rather than my prior …

Well who should I visit next? I'm feeling talkative so Wrex is out, Kaiden is over by the food … huh, why not.

"Yo LT, what you up to?" I say cheerfully.

He turns at my voice, and then seems to do a double take on my face, "Well look who's back" he says good naturedly.

I return his smile, "Well you know, can't deprive people the pleasure of my face can I?"

He chuckles, "And what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Just chatting, we didn't get off to the best of starts," I say sombrely, "I didn't mean to … well give you the wrong idea about Shep …"

Surprisingly he holds up his hands, "Don't apologize, the commander isn't my property, I shouldn't have gotten like that …" He looks bashful and its adorable. So adorable in fact, I laugh. He's obviously taken back by my reaction, but it's my turn to put my hands up innocently.

"I'm sorry …" I end up hyperventilating between words and it annoys me to no end, "You're so cute …you love her don't you?" I add with the best innocent face I can muster.

He looks at his feet and shuffles. I sigh. After a few moments of me getting my breathe back, I decide to change the subject instead. "Tell me about your biotics, like … erm … I mean … whats it feel like using them?" I say inquisitively. I always wondered it, as it was never covered … as far as I know anyway …

He looks at me and pulls a thinking face. "Well … it's kind of like pins and needles … but it never gets too bad … the headaches yeah, but the tingling isn't unbearable to say the least." Huh. So that's how it works. Cool.

"Ah thanks, what about the training? I assume it wasn't always just 'pins and needles'." I say. I know about 'brain camp' but I want to hear it from him.

He frowns, but starts talking anyway, "Well, when I young, we were kinda… 'encouraged' to join what we called 'brain camps'…"

* * *

We were talking for a good … half an hour before Shepard got back from Noveria. And with my new found vigour, from my surgery, I'm off to the … well… whatever room it's called … I'm not if it's a CIC … the room where everyone sits. Kaiden seems a bit more … okay with me after our talk, never having biotics and all, and the game just doesn't do it justice. Kaiden even showed me a … website? Well, an extranet store where I can get songs for a credit a piece. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I was always a guy who has like a thousand songs and only listens to about a hundred of them … but even that might be pushing it …

"Rachni? We slaughter them, and our prize is the fucking Genophage." Wrex, Kaiden and Ash are all concerned about releasing the Queen, while Tali, Liara and Garrus where quite sure it was the morally right choice.

Surprisingly, Shepard is quiet during this exchange, I'm not sure if she's regretting her choice, or just doesn't want to piss off everyone.

At one point, the sentence I do not want to hear is said. "Mack, what's your take on this?" Fuck you Kaiden.

"I don't really have a specific opinion on it …" At that Wrex grunts, and Kaiden sighs. You asked me! "Look at it from the Commander's point of view," I begin, "I'm under no pretences that choosing to kill a species, or save it is a hard choice. Humans aren't as …" Choosing the right word to differentiate Krogan from humans without getting my neck broken isn't the easiest thing under pressure, "Shepard puts everyone else before her, killing a species is not something a person as … _noble_ as Shepard takes lightly. Every species has a soul …Shepard doesn't hold the Rachni responsible … I reckon the Reapers were behind that as well personally …" I add. I had everyone's attention, and at the end, Kia was grimacing, Wrex was glaring, and everyone was just … contemplating.

"I thought the Reapers used cycles?" Liara asked. Luckily, I was saved an explanation.

"Perhaps the reapers wanted to weaken the council races, but I need to talk to the council and I am not looking forward to it. And if I even mention the Reapers again, Sparatus will say 'ah yes, the _reapers_'" Her impression of the Turian councillor included with air quotes made me chuckle, even Garrus did the Turian version of a grin.

As we filed out of the room Kaiden pulled to one side, bumping into Ash and getting a yelp off of Tali as I tread on her foot. Muttering my apologises, and getting a glare off of Wrex.

"What is it Kaiden?" I growl. I don't mind being wanted, but it annoys me when I'm grabbed.

"We need to clear something up with Shepard when she's finished with the report." He says it calmly, but his jaw locks and … well I'm a little confused …

"Yeah … okay … could I perhaps … know why?" I say simply.

"I want … I _need_ Shepard to choose."

An awkward silence elopes. Kaiden. For god's sake, what doesn't he get?

"Kaiden … I don't know how to make it any clearer." I state.

He goes to reply, but promptly changing his mind. He proceeds to walk into the … meeting room anyway.

"Virmire? Of course councillors, Shepard out." She turns to see us and is understandably surprised. "What do you want now Kaiden?" She then notices me, "Mack?"

"Commander. We need to talk. The three of us." Kaiden states. Rather …unceremoniously.

"Kaiden please, don't do this." I plead, sure I like Shepard, but as I told him, I want Ash.

"I need to understand where I stand."

"Maybe we should try and work this out." Shepard, ever the diplomat.

"Kaiden is jealous ma'am." If he wants to play the 'state' game well fuck it if he thinks I'm going to back down.

"I'm not jealous … just confused" He says, I feel bad for provoking him…

"Kaiden …" I start, but he cuts me off.

"Shepard, make a choice. If you're not serious about me … it'll hurt, but I'll get over it. But until you tell me, I _can't _get over it" He's passionate and Shepard looks like she's in love. I don't like breaking up people …

"She doesn't have to Kaiden." Shepard looks at me with a confused expression, "Kaiden has got the wrong end of an extremely wrong stick. You're great, but I'm in lo…" I am? Am I? But I've known her for like … a few weeks …

"With Ash. I understand Mack." Shepard smiles at me, "That's pretty sweet you know."

Kaiden grunts. Before making this encounter more awkward. I leave, flashing both of them a smile as I leave.

I could understand why Kaiden is worried, sheesh, I'm close to Shep, but I don't like her like that… I'm a one horse kinda guy. Not that Ash is a horse … luckily this is all in my head and she will never know these thoughts.

I wonder where we're headed?

Virmire.

Shit.

I need to tell Ash.

I don't care if its messes up cannon, I can't live knowing, if Shep chooses Kaiden, I could have saved Ash …

Shit.

I ended up running to Ashes quarters, and I noticed how small it was. My room, it's almost as big as Shepard's room, but Ash's is _tiny._ I struggles to fit through the door for god's sake. She had a bed, a table, and book on the table. She was on her bed, reading another book, Tennyson if I had to guess.

"It little profits that an idle king, by this still hearth, among these barren crags" I pause, she saw when I entered, but knowing me knowing poetry, especially her favourite, had surprised her, "Matched with an aged wife, I meet and dole, unequal laws unto a savage race." I'm a fan of poetry, I'm iffy about Shakespeare, GCSE English does do that to a guy, but my favourite was easily Robert Burns, perhaps it's because he's Scottish, but I really love 'A Red, Red Rose' .

"That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me." Ash is smiling at me, wanting to more.

"Before you ask, I'm a massive fan of Tennyson, he's not my favourite, but I like him enough to know the start of Ulysses." I state with slight grin. It's gone as soon as I remember why I'm here.

"I never saw you as a poetry man" She says, she didn't notice my lapse. How on earth do I tell her?

I can't just say, 'Hey, I'm *not* actually from this universe.' Or 'You or Kaiden are going die tomorrow!'

"What's a matter Mack?" I look up at her, her … big beautiful brown eyes. I was never normally a fan of brown eyes, always thought they were boring. But Ash's … so full of life.

I've kissed her before I could stop myself.

She looked shocked at first, but soon closed her eyes. Her lips were soft, warm too. I didn't realise she was standing, so I put my hands on her hips. She moved her arms and draped them over shoulders. Feeling a curious tongue on my lips, I feel no reason not to let it taste a bit further.

We did this for … it felt like barely five seconds, but it was more than a few minutes. She opened her eyes, and I'm not a fool, I know that look. I've seen it, I've had it, hell, acting on it is the one of the best things a man can do. But not right now.

I softly push her off me, and she frowns, "D-did I do something wrong …" She asked sheepishly, and I can't but smile at her again.

"No Ash…" I lose my smile yet again, I need to tell her … "When we get to Virmire…" my throat actually seizes. She looks concerned, so I kiss her again in reassurance. "Shepard is going to make a choice tomorrow." She blanches at the word 'Shepard', giving me the impression Kaiden wasn't the only one with stupid ideas.

"What choice …" She asks, she isn't going to believe me …

"Between you … and Kaiden." I can't bring myself to keep talking. What if I tell her, and the result is worse? But I can't lose Ash … not now.

"I can't say more Ash, but trust me … please know … shit …" I end up rubbing the back of my head, "I'm not exactly who I say I am …" She frowns and goes to ask me something, but I put my finger on her lips, "If we both survive, I'll tell you everything." I kiss her on her forehead and turn to leave.

"Mack …" She grabs my shirt, but the tears in my eyes prevent my courage from letting me.

"Ash… I'm s-sorry."

Leaving her room was the hardest thing I've ever done. I had baggage before I came to this universe … who doesn't? But nothing would have made me turn away from a girl that reciprocated my feelings. But I was lying to her … and I despise lying.

* * *

Before Virmire, we stopped at the citadel. I wanted an armour upgrade, so did Liara and Tali, so we went hunting. Shep took everyone else, except Wrex and Garrus, who had shit to do.

"Don't die! Get Armour here!" Shouted a VI. The shop belonged to Turians, so that explained the positively catchy slogan. Tali blanched at the sign, and Liara looked like she was in a world of her own.

"Hey Tali, is it hard to swap armour?" I ask curiously, looking in the window, the clerk is having an argument with a rowdy looking Krogan. The unspoken vote of walking on is taken.

"It's dangerous if it's done incorrectly, but I've done it before." Cool, always did bother me.

"Have you ever caught a dangerous disease?" Liara pipes up. Good question, I never thought of that …

"Yeah …" Tali tilts her head, something she's ashamed of, "I got a cold when I first arrived on the citadel..." Fucker still hasn't been cured? Tough little virus.

Liara just looked confused. "You got cold? Is that a Quarian disease?"

"It's a human virus, it could be compared to humans for its adaptability and will to survive." I clarify.

"It can be deadly to Quarians and Drell." Tali adds. Drell? Gotta be careful when ME2 rolls around I guess.

We talk a bit more about diseases, turns out a lot of diseases have been wiped out, but new ones from other races have taken their place. Asari diseases affect humans generally the same way, and same with human diseases.

We eventually get to this quaint little Elcor Armour shop, Liara gets some pretty nifty nanofibre shit, Tali got some tech upgrades and I got a mesh weave. On the way back to the Normandy, I even got a tattoo. A flaming Ace on my bicep. Always wanted it, fuck it. The pain hurt worse than what people tell you. I'd rather be shot in the face again. Liara watched the procedure with a look of horror. I couldn't tell what Tali was thinking. She watched intently though, probably with the same look as Liara.

**#####**

**Hey folks!**

**Bit of a note here, sorry I took so long, collage is a bitch and the only reason I got this up is because I'm looking after a new born kitten(!) **

**I struggled with this chapter, I'm iffy with character interaction, but I reckon this one is better than my other one. **

**And another note, feel free pm me ideas on what twists and shit to take :3 I write this a chapter at time, and I will try to have Virmire up … in two weeks? Within a week is my goal :3**

**Oh, and two THOUSAND views :3 I'm not sure if that's a lot by most standards, but it's more than anticipated. **

**Thanks for the support! **

**Review if you want :3 **

**Mack \m/**

**####**


	7. Chapter 7 - Virmire Part One

**###**

**First note, this chapter is written solely off of Wiki, so my description won't be the exact same as that portrayed in the game. Think of it as … the game's wrong and I'm right? Yeah. Think that.**

**Mack**

**###**

**The Dragon of Virmire**

Shepard landed on Virmire with Garrus, Wrex and Ash. While I was disappointed I wasn't chosen, I'm too preoccupied in what will happen.

I mean, Kaiden or Ash _will_ die. While there isn't any love lost between me and Kaiden, I don't want Ash to die. I'm feeling … lost? I don't know. But I want to spend more time with her …but it's all up to Shepard. While I doubt she'd choose solely on who she likes the most, it must have a minor role. Or maybe I'm just being shallow? When I played, I would always choose the character I wanted to romance. Nothing wrong with Liara, I just never found her attractive. I prefer confidence, Ash for example. And I fell for her.

I sigh.

"What's up Lieutenant?" I turn to see Tali watching me, she was always the character I would choose to romance in ME2, how hypocritical do I sound? Miranda was a bitch, and so was Jack. There wasn't any action with Samara so Tali was the next best thing, she was the most likable character.

I sigh again, "Lovestruck." I state, sighing again. I've been in this situation a few times, as most people have I would assume, but it rarely ends well.

"Who's the lucky girl?" Tali never took her eyes off me, or well, face plate.

"It's a surprise." I wave my hands around. While I like Tali, I don't want her prying.

"It's either Ash, Shep, Liara or me. I have 25 percent chance of guessing. It's a not a fun game. I could even help." While she's stubborn, but she doesn't have the experience I need.

"What information could you possibly give me?" I state, a little too sharply.

She gives me a sigh of frustration. "Speak to her?"

"Wow, why didn't I come to you first?" My voice dripping in sarcasm. I'm not thinking straight, one of my _few_ flaws, I don't think when I'm nervous.

"I'm trying to help!" Her voice is raising, shit I've awoken the beast.

"And I told you I didn't want it!" I could see Liara and Kaiden just warily staying at the side lines.

"Humans are so dense."

"Women are so temperamental."

"No better than Pyjaks."

"At least we can breathe."

"You don't even have a unified planet!"

"Hey what's this? It's Skin!"

This continued for a few minutes. Tali eventually ended up just screaming terms of profanity at me. The only one of which I recognised was the universal 'bosh'tet', which is the equivalent of 'bastard' in English. This would have kept going on if Liara hadn't stepped in.

"Please , this isn't helping anyone."

Tali of course, wouldn't back down. "Tell him to apologise!" Tali had being shouting for the last five minutes.

"I'm not saying sorry." Perhaps I _was_ dense? "She started with her questions." I was right. Come on, I was not in the wrong.

"They were only questions Mack." Kaiden, forever the voice of reason.

"Fuck off lover boy. You've already made everyone think I want to bone Shep."

The punch felt like my jaw would fall off. He used all his biotic might in hitting me. And I landed flat on my arse.

"Guys? I hate to break up the party, but we're meeting the STG squad, landing in five." Thank you Joker.

Rubbing my jaw, noticing no one offered to help me up, II stood up and leaned against the wall. Meeting the STG team, meant that Virmire was half way through. And my nerves jumped again.

Tali was, what I assume, glaring at me. I said some pretty … I suppose racist points, like I _might _have slipped the term suit rat, after she called me, and I quote, "A walking, talking, mass of biological waste." After she claimed humans were mistakes in the chain of evolution. Kaiden was also glaring, obvious reason, I still think he's a moron, and Liara was apprehensive. I doubt any of the team have seen me angry, few people do.

Even back home, I never got angry. I was proud of that. Calm, patient and happy. But I suppose the torment was being THROWN OUT MY UNIVERSE put my nerves on edge.

Flipping the bird at Kaiden, I strolled over to my locker and proceeded to strip. Taking my shirt off, I felt eyes bare into my back. I turned, and stretched my abs, which I have to say, I never had before this … awesome. I saw Tali's glare soften, women are simple, despite the sayings of _many_ men, and the same with Liara. Kaiden went red, and turned around. Pah, bitch. Noticing this, Liara went red, well, the shade of red only a blue person could, and Tali let out a short gasp.

I turned back, and let myself have a little chuckle, people are so easy to please.

After I stopped, I picked up my new visor. One similar to Garrus', and it would help my aim with my sniper and pistol.

"Mack I'm sorry." I turned around to see a still pretty angry Tali.

"Don't expect to get in my pants now." I say with, what I hope is, a condescending smile. She looks up at me, and has what I perceive to be a look of 'I want to tear out your throat'.

She sort of continued to glare at me, "Why are you being such an ass?" She said pointedly.

"I'm sorry lass, I'm on edge for this mission, I don't normally feel like this before missions …" I say, surrounding area with a sense of foreboding.

"That's not a good excuse. I try and apologize and all I get is more dickery." She stormed off. I wasn't in the wrong here.

"I'll see you later then ..." I say with a smile. The problem is, she's right. I shouldn't be provoking my team mates, however on edge I might be. I mentally slap myself, I am dick.

I stroll over to Kaiden, he's still fuming, and I'm not surprised.

"Kaiden." He looks at me, if looks could kill. "I'm sorry for what I said …"

I was ready for it this time. His fist would have connected in the same place as before, but I caught his fist, like a boss I must say. I twisted, and he landed on the floor on his face with a dull thud. Pulling his arm behind his head makes him let off a small scream which he failed to hide.

"Kaiden. I mean it, I didn't mean what I said." I state simply, before letting his hand go. I grabbed my gun, from my locker, ignoring a shocked Quarian and Asari, and headed to the airlock.

He started it. I was simply finishing it. I sigh. Even I can't convince myself. I always hated Kaiden, well, in the games I mean, but here… he was unbearable. He sucked the mood out of everyone. Yeah, I had a single conversation with him that I enjoyed, but I never really tried.

Joker's voice came through the speakers, close enough to my head to make me jump, and realise my height isn't always good. "Great landing, but scanners have got a ton of weapons aimed at us".

Captain Kirrahe isn't happy if I recall. His transmission expected a fleet, but he gets Shep, with the same orders that got half his team killed. I wouldn't be happy either.

Stepping out of the Normandy, I get the real Virmire Experience.

The sun beats down on me, threatening to make me melt. The view is beautiful though. While, the armed Salarians aiming at me with an assortment of different weapons at me, isn't the best view, but the cliffs, the green and blue... gah! It's beautiful. Dragging my eyes from the lovely scenery, reminding me of Brazil, the rainforests and humidity, barely twenty seconds, I'm sweating like a pig.

"Who are you?" Ah Captain Kirrahe.

"Lieutenant-Commander Mack, Alliance Military, currently under the command of Spectre Shepard. We're here to investigate a STG transmission." I state, using my arse licker voice. I was told I was one the people who uses their voice to transmit status. I can see why. Language and power.

"I assume Shepard is the one alerting the Geth to our presence?" He asked.

"Aye, destroyed the anti-air." He nods his head, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know he still isn't happy.

I followed him to his command tent, Kaiden a step behind me.

"So what are supposed to do now?" Kaiden asked, sparing a glance that gives me the impression he would eat my soul given a chance.

"Stay put until we can come up with a plan." Was the captain's reply. I can't remember the exact situation but –

"Are you in charge here? What's the situation?" We all turned to see Sheppard, drenched in sweat, a dishellved Ash close behind. Shepard stood between me and Kaiden, giving us a quick once over. Once at me, then at Kaiden's now bandaged arm, which I have to say I never noticed, then her eye brow raised at me. A small shrug, and she turns back to Kirrahe. Ash looked at me, then looked at the floor, licking her lips nervously. It was adorable. I let Sheppard take my spot, and stood next to Ash, putting my hand on her shoulder and giving her a smile.

"Hey.." She whispered. I'd the heard this conversation before, but I was glad to see Ash again.

"Hey, you've got a bug on you" I whispered back, stroking a loose hair behind her ear. She blushed and looked at the floor.

"You're a dick, you know that?" I let out a small laugh.

"I can't help you being adorable can I?" She blushed again. I chuckled some more, this time earning an angry look from one of the Salarians behind Kirrahe; promptly shutting me up.

"You had your chance the night you kissed me." I give her a sad smile as she looks up.

"You avoided me since then." Her blush had finally gone, and she returned my smile.

"I didn't want you to impact on my performance _sir_" She said with a grin.

"When we're on our way back to citadel with Saren's head, I'll make it up to you." I slide my hand around hers, and she looked me in the eye. "I promise."

"Tali's glaring at you." She said before laughing. I turned to see a smug looking Tali looking at me. Well … I guess she can guess.

"He's using the facility to breed an army of Krogan." Kiarrahe said, we all turned to Kirrahe in horror, I, of course, putting my acting skills to use.

"How is that possible?" Growled Wrex, making Kaiden jump. Heh.

"Apparently, Saren has discovered a cure for the Genophage." The Captain said, his voice lowering, as if afraid to be heard by a higher power.

"The Geth are bad enough … but a Krogan army? He'd be almost unstoppable." Stated Shepard. Way to dampen the spirits.

"Exactly my thoughts. We must ensure that this facility and its secrets are destroyed." Replied Kirrahe, cue angry Wrex.

"Destroyed? I don't think so. Our people are dying. This cure can save them." He was calm, and that surprised me. Wrex is quiet yeah, but I wouldn't say calm.

"If that cure leaves the planet, the Krogan will become unstoppable. We can't make the same mistake again." Countered the good captain. I never did like this opinion, but I had never lived in this universe.

Wrex stomped his way past Shepard, and approached Kirrahe. "We are not a mistake." He stated, before storming off.

"Is he going to be a problem? We already have enough angry Krogan to deal with."

Shepard didn't reply, she just followed.

"I'm going to keep an eye on him." Ash said, following Kia, leaving me with Kaiden.

"You broke my arm." He said after a moment of silence.

"That wasn't the idea Kaiden … I was trying to apologise." I reply calmly, I wasn't the bad guy.

I looked over to Wrex, and he had just drawn his gun at Shepard. "Holy shit" Kaiden shouted before jogging over to the commotion. I could see Ash lining up her shot, from behind him, but I had confidence in Shepard's abilities.

The gunshot was what I heard. My blood became ice. I saw Wrex hit the ground. I was too far away to hear what Ash said as she walked up to him, but she shot him twice again. He was dead, and Kaiden was running over. I could see Shepard shouting at Ash, tears in her eyes.

Wrex was dead.

The feeling hit me like a freight train, this wasn't going to be an easy ride. People were going to get killed.

Ash or Kaiden.

One of them is next.

**####**

**What have I done! What else could go wrong! Gah!**

**Mack**

**####**


	8. Chapter 8 - Virmire Part Two

**######**

**No, I don't hate Wrex, he's one of my favourite characters. **

**I'm sorry to the people who liked him, but I wanted to throw in a few twists in my story, it's gonna keep kicking you in the 'nards my friends, that is a promise.**

**Mack**

**####**

**Virmire Part Two**

"We need someone who knows Alliance protocols." Shepard said, agreeing with Captain Kirrahe and his plan.

"I volunteer Commander."

"Not so fast LT, Commander Shepard will need you to arm the nuke. I'll go with the Salarians."

My head was swimming. Should I say something? Tell Ash to go a different way? Or we could just split up the group when the time comes. I was still … surprised? I can't explain the feeling …I was shocked at Wrex's death. Guilty? I suppose. I could have warned Shep of what might happen … or even told Ash not to fucking shoot.

When I went over to Shepard and Wrex's corpse, Shepard was disciplining Ash. I just stood there gaping, and when Ash said "Better him than the commander", I could have slapped her. How could she be so cold? Kaiden simply agreed, and Shepard told them both to drop it. Ash must have seen the look on my face; she gave me a sad smile. I didn't return it.

She's lucky I still care enough.

Wrex wasn't the nicest person; far from. But he cared about his people. And his body was currently being dumped into Virmire's ocean.

That wasn't a warrior's burial.

I suggested a Viking burial, burning. But Kirrahe didn't want to alert Saren's troops. I understand, but I wasn't happy.

"Kaiden, your arm is broken, you're in no position. Ash is in the best position, but I have the most leading experience; take me." I state. I know full well, that given my prior's skill set, I'd be the best candidate.

Kirrahe seemed to agree with me, nodding his head with my sentiment. Shepard didn't look as happy.

"Mack, you'll do good …" She turned to the captain, "What else do you want?"

"I will have the ordnance loaded on the Normandy and brief your crew on its detonation sequence." The Captain replied, "Do you have any questions before we go commander?"

"I'm ready when you are Captain." replied Shepard.

Kirrahe excused himself and Shepard turned to face us.

"Well, I guess I'll be back in time for tea and cakes, it shouldn't take long, don't do anything else Ash." I say with a sad smile. I'm upset with her still, but I appreciate why she did it.

"I won't sir…" She looked down at her feet, and Kaiden turned to me.

"I'm sorry for punching you." He put his hand out for me shake. I batted it away and pulled him into a bro-hug. He gasped, not used to the affection I would assume.

Shepard and Ash just laughed, "I expect to be told what happened to arm later Kaiden" Shepard said, giving me a stern look.

"It's a funny story." I state, giving Shepard a hug. Giving me a chance to warn her. After Wrex's death, I feel like I could save many lives needlessly lost. "Give Sovereign my best." I whisper.

I pull off, returning Shepard's confused stare with a momentary sad one.

Turning to Ash, I pulled her into a huge bear hug. I look her in the eye, and kiss her one more time. I'm terrified that this will be the last.

I've swapped with Kaiden. Either Ash will die, or I will. Perhaps Kaiden will die some other way? I don't know.

Shepard was my saving grace. "Whatever happens, everyone just keep shooting. We go in hard, hit 'em harder, and we'll be the only damn thing that comes out the other side!" She said, throwing her fist in the air.

We all joined in, but Shepard was doing this for morale. I see her glance at the bloody sand where Wrex died. Her eyes are sad, but hard enough. She was doing this for him.

* * *

"Sir, Corporal Kialag!" Shouted a rather young Salarian. He seemed inexperienced. STG was well trained, so I assume that this young trooper was better than he looks.

"Stand down Corporal. Get your unit to me, on the double." I used the universal – GI Joe voice, no reason really, I just felt like it suited the mood.

It took about five minutes, after Kirrahe's awesome speech, and six Salarian came up to me, and saluted.

"Each of you will have a code." I state, "Salarian names escape me, so each of you will be a number." Kialag looked at me with a baffled expression. Names were never my strong suit. This way I can issue orders easily, ARMA style.

"One, two, three, four, five and six." I said, tapping on each of their shoulders while saying a number. Kialag was number one, and he looked happy at this. "I will be Zero. Questions?"

"Why do you prefer numbers?" I expected this; Kialag was _too_ inexperienced for a mission like this.

"I can issue orders using as little time as possible. 'One, take cover' as opposed to 'Corporal Kialag, take cover'." The helmeted Salarians nodded at my logic.

"Lieutenant Commander, you're squad, designation 'Aegohr', will enter when I signal. Understood?" Captain Kirrahe approached us. He could remember names, so he could name each of my team blindfolded. His plan was pretty simple though, my squad is the support squad, Kialag was out medic, and I had another sniper along with the heavies.

"Aye aye Captain." I said with a nod.

"Let's go," He said before pressing into his ear, "Com check, do you read me Commander?"

I heard a muffled reply, but Kirrahe outlined his plans for Shep, "Good, we'll start our push. We'll try and make it to the AA guns, but it might be up to you to finish the job." He moved his hand, but then changed his mind, "And commander? If you see any way to undermine their defences, we could definitely use the help."

There was one huge gate, reminding me of old strongholds held during the crusades. Two huge towers dominated the fort, one in the middle, one on a hill, just left of the gate.

Two minutes in, and all hell broke loose.

"Shadow is on the ground. Repeat: Shadow is on the ground." Kirrahe shouted, rather calmly for the situation, "Lieutenant Commander, with Aegohr team! Mannovai, Jaeto teams, move! Time to get attention.

We were based behind some rocks in front of what looked like a main gate. At Kirrahe's signal, a group of rockets shot out from Mannovai's position. They were out gunned by a long shot, but they were to draw fire for the rest of us. I popped out of cover and took aim with my Black Widow.

A quick scan showed the walls lined with rocket Geth, and a dozen or so, troopers swarming the main gate. The troopers were supported by Krogan. Shit.

I decided to focus on the rocket troopers first, taking one out just before he fired, his rocket firing into the sky. A sniper next to me took out another trooper in a similar way. Suddenly, my shields got hit. Dropping behind my rock, the sniper next to me, Three, informed me, "Turrets, I spy three."

Three turrets. Okay. Checking my rifle, yeah, it's cooled. I popped back out, taking out the fuel of one turret, blowing it sky high.

Three had the same idea, blowing a second one to hell. She screamed some Salarian words before joining me behind cover.

"Fucking shit." I shouted as a rocket hit Two straight on his head, covering a poor One, or Kialiag, in Salarian blood. He seemed to shrug it off and continue firing with his assault rifle. That impressed me. It was evidence of the STG training, if a grunt could do something like that. The only thing stopping myself from throwing up was my priors experience.

Three took out the other tower, while I focussed on the rocket troopers, who now had snipers with them. A single shot from my rifle, obliterates a sniper and hit the rocket trooper behind him, blowing up his launcher.

"Go go go!" Shouted Kirrahe. At his orders, Jaeto stormed the gate, followed closely by Mannovai and then my squad.

I took out a Krogan biotic before swapping to my assault rifle. A quick burst took a Geth trooper to the ground. Four promptly stepped on its head.

Two minutes in, and we got into a decently defensible position. But we didn't want defensible, we were on the attack. Jaeto saw an opening in the swarm, and broke through, heading for the main tower. Kirrahe's squad, Mannovai went towards a building, leaving my squad to support them before heading to the second tower.

Suddenly, a missile fell from the sky, obliterating a pair from Jaeto.

"They're calling in sat-strikes! Jaeto, watch for com Stations! Mack, you see anything?"

"Negative Captain, I got nothing here." I said entering an armoury of some sorts.

"We're being decimated my Aircraft sir!" Shouted the leader of Jaeto, I have to say, they don't have the best luck.

My squad stepped out of the armoury and started to fire on the aircraft. One or two went down, but we were too late to do any damage. They flew off, shit! The refuelling station! "Aircraft heading to perimeter stations to recharge. Get into cover before they get back."

It took about two minutes before we heard Shepard's voice.

"Drones down Captain" Sheppard's voice soothed my squad. Kialag was obviously nervous, he was jittery , but still was a pretty good shot.

"Copy that Commander" I said calmly.

A sudden surge of Krogan took us off guard. Jaeto was still outside, while Mannovai was nowhere to be seen. My squad was at the side of the Krogan horde, giving us some pretty good angles. I took down about three Krogan with headshots, and took off the leg of another before Mannovai appear behind the horde. This pincer action seemed the panic the Krogan, making them try to retreat but it was to no avail. Three and I were extremely accurate.

Another surge though, this time supported by a variety of Geth troopers. This horde appeared behind Mannovai, forcing them to retreat back with Jaeto.

"Shadow team must be getting close. Hold the line, men! Hold the line!" Kirrahe was shouting. He was duel wielding pistols, making him awesome, but the surprise was how accurate he was.

My squad crept forward, slaughtering Geth from behind, as they were too focussed on the Salarians in the middle of this courtyard thing. Looking down my sights, a Geth trooper went down, followed by a weakened Krogan.

Four and Five where killing the Geth by the dozens, before Five took a shot to the leg. He let out a moan before being grabbed by a Krogan. The Krogan ran towards his group of battlemasters, holding Five in the air. He didn't notice his prize pull out a grenade drop it at the feet of his captors. The one Krogan who looked down, lost his face when the explosion went off. The Krogan who took Five lost his legs. Five fell and went to edge away but a Geth sniper hit him.

Four roared. And yes, a Salarian roared. He charged at this sniper, and drop kicked it. The sniper dropped its rifle and threw a punch, Four nimbly dodged, before putting a knife through its flashlight.

We started making good progress, but Jaeto lost more men pushing forwards, following Four's example.

"Give up a little ground Mack, we don't want them to bunker-up. Draw them out." Kirrahe's words echoed in my head. It was a good idea, and I understand why he's in charge.

Dropping back, faking losing, the exact same tactic William the Conqueror used in the battle of Hastings. The Krogan fell for it and followed us, getting slaughtered by Mannovai.

Jaeto ran forwards, replacing the spot where the Krogan were. It was a pretty defensible spot.

The, what I assume is, the bulk of Saren's forces were here. Geth and Krogan everywhere.

Pulling out my sniper, I shoot at a Krogan, but he falls before my bullet hits him. "Too slow _sir_" Three drops next to me, she's good. I'll give her that.

I take down a rocket trooper, and then a sniper before my rifle overheats. It made me curse, feeling the searing heat on my hand.

Six was my squad's rocket trooper, I didn't actually see much of him over this battle. But when I do, its fucking awesome. He jumped over Three's head, causing her to swear, using a sword. The sword, in fact, reminded me of the Vibrobades in the Knights of the old republic, and cut down a battlemaster before he could finish his biotic power. Cut through him like butter. He moved so fluently, he moved to a Geth trooper, the blade shutting of the light, and then to another.

Three and I helped Six by covering him, using out rifles to snipe at Geth behind him, or snipers that were taking aim. We actually made a pretty good team I must say, when we get out of here, I need to ask her name.

Kialag was crouched next to Kirrahe, covering the captain's awesome escapades.

Almost as quick as they had arrived, the horde started to move away from us. Shepard met Sovereign then.

"The Geth are turning from your position Jaeto. Looks like Shadow kicked a sensitive spot! Mack, head them off, hold them here!"

Silently, I tapped Three on the shoulder, and pointed to a corridor that had a window overshadowing the Geth forces. She nodded in understanding.

"Six, One follow us, we need to fuck up them up before Shepard gets into trouble." They came back to mine and Three's position and we sprinted down the corridor.

Taking pot shots at the Geth while shadowing felt good. Three was amazing, barely even looking into the scope before firing. Six took out a group with a well placed rocket, and Kialag was firing off short bursts into the crowd.

A pretty decent team, I must say. We were working together really well. Sometimes Three and I shared a target, but she always hit them first, causing me to swear.

"Good work on the gun Shadow team. Now it's our turn. Aegohr, come back to us, and we'll take down the last tower."

"Aye aye." I reply to Kirrahe.

While my team couldn't hold off Geth, most of the Krogan decided to follow us, while the Geth kept heading for Shepard. She could handle the Geth, the Krogan would be a problem – most definitely. But Shepard needs to stay alive, we are secondary.

Kirrahe nodded at me when we got back, and he immediately headed for the tower nearest to us. It was soon time for Shepard to choose.

We nearly got to the top, but the Geth here just bogged us down. The troopers, while a danger in great numbers, were taken down fairly quickly. The Jugganauts were the problem. And we had five of them in our way. Hoppers were jumping around like frogs on LSD, troopers were firing randomly, rockets where exploding on every bit of land around the STG squads.

Mannovai was depleted now, only Kirrahe and a sniper where left, Jaeto was still the largest squad but they only had six members left. I still had One, Three and Six left. Two was taken down in the initial assault, Five went a blaze of glory and four had joined Jaeto, and I felt he was better use there.

"That's it, we need to clear the Geth and set those charges." The captain gave his orders and it was done.

Jaeto started to fire on the jugganauts, drawing their fire. Me and Three got a joint headshot on one of them that took it down seamlessly. One ran over to join four with Jaeto, and Kirrahe took down one with only his pistols.

The fire depleted the shields of the last three, allowing Three and I to take them down.

Six ran over to the gun controls and planted some plastic explosive that looked just like C4 from back home.

"Charges set! Everyone bunker down! Bunker down!" Screamed Kirrahe, before diving behind a wall. Jaeto all dropped, Geth still aiming at them. Three and I hid behind the wall, and she gave me a thumbs up.

The explosion ripped through the wall, throwing Kirrahe into the sea. Shit, he was a good man, didn't deserve to die like that, no one does. Looking around my wall showed many, and I mean many scattered robot parts. The gun was down, that's good, but Mannovai team was no more, and my ears were still ringing. The surviving STG, which was … about a third of the original team, were mulling, trying to stand up. A few of the more stable members looking at me for leadership.

I hit my ears, just to get my bearings. That earned a curious look from Six, but Three nodded and copied my action.

It took a minute, but my senses did come back. I looked up and started to give my orders. I had no fucking idea what to do.

"Erm, One, Six, get the rest of Jaeto to the evac zone, Three and I will cover your retreat." I said, as calm as I could. It was almost time. Shepard would have to choose. I want her to choose Ash, and I sure as hell ain't going down easily.

"Sir! Our escape is blocked!" Shouted Kialag, panic evident in his voice. I turn to face him, only to see a bullet to hit his chest. He was gasping, and if I had to guess, I'd guess a collapsed lung. I caught him before he fell, but the Geth had started a counter attack. I dived back behind my wall, Three right beside me.

"We're not gonna make it sir…" I would agree with her, but I couldn't bring myself to dampen the STG team, who had done so well. I lowered One, who was convulsing now, and lent back against the wall.

"Oh we will lass, even if I have to haul myself out of the fiery depths of hell." I state, before popping out of cover to hit the sniper who hit One. Three followed my lead, taking down a jugganaut with relative ease.

"Shepard, come in!" I shouted, holding my hand to my ear piece.

"Mack? Get to the rendezvous point." Shepard replied, her voice was calm, soothing my nerves.

"Negative on that ma'am. We're pinned down at the AA tower, the captain is dead and we're taking heavy casualties." I state. My voice heavy, knowing that I doubt Three, Six or any of the other Salarians will make it. "We're not going to get to evac site in time." A bullet hit my arm, making me cry out in pain. My suit pumped medigel onto my wound, giving me cold sensation. Looking towards Three, she took a shot that hit the bastard who got me.

"Joker, get them out of there, now!" Shepard shouted. Shepard was the only one who mattered, however horrible that sounds. She is the one to save the universe.

"No ma'am, LZ is too hot, we'll hold the line as best as we can." That was Three, the medigel was fucking with my mind. It was soft, like a soft touch healing my wounds.

"We're coming to reinforce. Sit tight." Shepard's replied. She wasn't going to make it and I could have done something.

I growled. I picked up my rifle, and took a shot at the approaching troopers. I hit a trooper through its neck and hit the rocket trooper behind it. My rifle overheated, so I clipped it on my back and pulled out my assault rifle. I rolled next to Six, who's heavy machine gun had just overheated. He nodded a nod that knows this is the end and put his hand on my shoulder. "It's being an honour."

My heart felt like it would burst. I nodded my thanks, and stood up, no regards to my own safety. "Say hello to my little friend!" I shouted, firing my rifle, Al Pacino style.

Six laughed maniacally, and charged at the Geth with his sword drawn. Three was behind us, taking down shields, rocket troopers and snipers. Six took down a jugganaut in one swipe, before jumping on top of a hopper. I was doing the least damage of us three, although I was trying to distract the group, so Six would take less fire.

I was also trying to raise morale. The poor STG had seen their leader killed, so they needed some action. It was working, from what I could tell anyway. The rest of Jaeto was firing back, Four gave me a nod of recognition. I never spoke to him, then again, Five or Two never spoke to me either. Three and One were great, and I've earned Six's respect. I can only assume the same with Four.

Suddenly, the tower shook, and a giant Geth ship flew past us. And so it begins.

* * *

**Shepard's Perspective**

"Ma'am, Troopship just flew past us, I reckon its gunning for your position." Mack's normally calm voice sounded stressed, which I could understand. He was good leader, and losing troops was hard on any leader, like losing Jenkins back on Eden Prime. He was a good kid with potential. I did gain Ash and Mack out of that mission, and two soldiers as skilled as them would be more helpful on the field of battle, due to just experience.

"It's already here and it's bleeding Geth all over the bomb site." Ash was sounding nervous too. Shit. If the bombsite fell, then they might not get the nuke off, and Saren might get his army.

"Can you hold them off?" Mack needed help as well, if Ash could hold off the Geth long enough to get the nuke primed I could escape with Mack.

"There's too many! I don't think we can hold them!" Screamed Ash, all sense of calmness and professionalism gone. "I'm activating the nuke." She said.

That sent alarm bells off. "What the hell are you doing Williams?" I shouted back. Saren might have already escaped. I wasn't going to risk anything until I had his head. This wasn't going to end until Saren was dead.

"Making sure this bomb goes off. No matter what." She said, more calmly than before. I leant on the railings that we had come too. Softly planting my hands on them.

"Ash! Don't be fucking stupid!" That was Mack. They had gotten close. Kaiden even convinced me that he had wanted me. I told him it was stupid. But he wasn't having it. It took Mack to almost break his arm, before Kaiden would even consider talking to him.

I could remember what he said. 'Tali told me that she thinks they're in love, even if he's a prick, its cute.' Pah. Friends with a common cause found solace with each other. Its happen to me, it's happened to them.

"This needs to happen Mack."

"No it fucking doesn't. I have five Salarians left, all are willing to try. We'll push to the rendezvous, but if we're not there, at least the bomb will have gone off with the most effect."

"Shepard, we'll handle this. Get Mack and get out." Ash delivered the ultimatum. I could choose to save Ash, or Mack. Ash, the xenophobic gunnery chief, her future with the Alliance hampered by the sins of her grandfather. Or Mack, the skilled second in command, the one who would take over if I died.

Ash was mouthy, had a problem with authority, and even killed Wrex. While her fears weren't unfounded, I'm still annoyed. Mack would follow orders to the letter, and I wouldn't trust anyone else covering me like he could. Using that logic, at close range, I could trust Ash to keep everything away.

"Make a decision Shepard, quick!" The missions must come first.

"Williams, radio Joker and tell him to meet us at the bomb site." I said, touching my ear. I'm sorry Mack. I wish it didn't have to end like this.

"Y-yes, commander, I…" She stammered. _Lovers pah._ Comrades in arms. That's all. Two soldiers can't love. It takes us away from the game. That's what I told Kaiden, and I'm sticking to it.

"Ash, it's the right choice and you know it." He didn't sound like a man about to die …

"I'm sorry Mack … I had to make a choice." I meant it. I didn't want to have to make a choice. A choice like this is fucking hard. No commander should have to make a choice like this.

"I understand Kia, I have no regrets." Back to his old calm self. God dammit. This is what made him attractive. This calm, patient man, who could stay calm is such situations. _Say hi to Sovereign_. How did he know about sovereign being here? Or that it was alive. I never even suspected it was an actual Reaper.

"Mack?" I asked, my voice was sharp, and I knew it.

"Commander?" He was confused, but I need to know. _Did he know I'd have to make this choice?_

"How did you know about Sovereign?" I said, simply.

He didn't reply, and my alarms were ringing. How was he tied in with this? What did he know?

"Mack … is this something to do with what you wanted to tell me …" That was Ash. _She knew?_

"Yes. When I next see you both, I owe you all answers." He answer was ambiguous enough to send my alarms into overdrive. Me, Garrus, Tali and Liara stepped into the elevator heading back down to Ash.

"Tell us now Mack." I ordered. This was too important to take the calm approach. _What else does he know?_

"There isn't enough time. I'm not who I say I am, leave it at that." Shit, what …_What is he?_

"M-Mack …" Ash wanted to know too. The gunfire was heavy within her radio, _did she love him?_

"Ash, I'm sorry, I'll see you soon." Was his reply, "Three cover me. Four is down. I have to go, there's a shuttle here, and I'll see if I can make it. Mack out."

"Fucking hell Mack!"

The elevator made it, and we stormed out. My scanners were jammed, which meant that hoppers were here. A Krogan charged us as soon as the gate opened. He was no match. Tali took down his shield instantly, and a warp from Liara killed him.

The group of Geth turned to face us, and I fired my new grenade launcher into the group. Special cluster bombs, illegal in the majority of citadel space, authorised for Spectres only. Fuckin A.

Liara lifted the survivors and Garrus shot them. Tali overloaded the shields of the ones with them. This team was good, and if Mack could make it, then it would only make is stronger.

I ran towards Ash, but a warp hit my leg, sending me sprawling into the wall. Saren.

Ash went to hit him from behind, but he dodged her. He turned and launched a biotic throw, sending her flying the bomb. Garrus and Liara shot at him, but he threw up a shield around himself. Tali came over to help me up. I expect Saren to return fire, but he didn't. He just kept walking towards Ash.

"I applaud you Shepard. My Geth were utterly convinced the Salarians were the real threat. An impressive diversion." He picked up the barely conscious Ash, but kept talking, "Of course, it was all for nothing. I can't let you disrupt what I have accomplished here. You can't possibly understand what's really at stake."

"This isn't complicated. You'll do anything to get power. Even joining the Reapers!" I shouted back. Saren is a good man, unorthodox, but I understand what it means to sacrifice. It's a waste for him to join the reapers.

He turned towards us, holding the injured chief, towards up, holding her up as if offering her to God.

"You've seen the vision from the beacons, Shepard. You, of all people, should understand what the Reapers are capable of. They cannot be stopped." He said, his eyes boring into my very soul. "Do not mire yourself in pointless revolt. Do not sacrifice everything for the sake of petty freedoms. The Protheans tried to fight, and they were utterly destroyed." He held Ash even higher, as if making his point, "Trillions dead. But what if they had bowed before the invaders? Would the Protheans still exist? Is submission not preferable to extinction?"

His claw pierced Ash's skin like a steak knife. She let out a small gasp, but if the new window in her torso was any indication, she was dead. Her eyes fluttered and she let out one last word, "Mack".

Kaiden was the first one to react. Saren flung Ash's body like it was a used napkin, and turned to face the roaring lieutenant. "You bastard!" He shouted at he ran towards him. Why he didn't use his gun is beyond me. Saren never gave him the chance I suppose. Knocking his arm away, Saren swiped at Kaiden's head, sawing it clean off. He body fell to his knees, blood spurting out of his open neck wound.

I dropped to my knees. Two great soldiers are dead. One is missing. The rage overtook me and I fired my grenades at Saren. My cluster bombs took out his shields, forcing him into cover. Tali was hugging her knees, crying, kicking her and screaming, "Get the hell up and kill him".

Saren jumped onto his Hover board, throwing warps, throws and firing his rifle at us. I couldn't think straight. I fired again at the Turian, watching a rocket from his board hit where Tali was trying to shoot.

"Fucker!" I was screaming profanity at him, He had killed my friends. And he will pay.

Garrus an d Liara were covering me, throwing warps and bullets at Saren, whittling away at his armour and biotic barriers.

Saren realised he wasn't going to win. Hitting Garrus and Liara's cover with a rocket, knocking them down, he flew into me, or tried to. I dived out the way, but he followed me. He jumped on top of me, dragging me by my collar. He wanted to kill me like he did Ash.

Luck was on my side. The roar of Sovereign approaching was enough to turn Saren's attention away from me for a split second. That's all I needed. Turning back to me, his face met my fist. I put enough power into my punch to knock him to the ground, but he threw me a fell.

By the time I'd rose, he was back on his hoverboard. I raised my pistol … He just looked at me. "Fuck you!" I shouted. He grinned before flying off. I can't believe he got away, but we needed to get away. Garrus ran over to Ash's body and lifted it. Tali and I got Kaiden's body and Liara tried to get his head, but threw up and dropped it.

The woosh of the Normandy shocked us into action, I grabbed Kaiden's head, holding it by the hair. That made me nauseous, and I had sympathy for Liara. The crew in the holding dock helped us on board, dragging the bodies of the two marines before helping me aboard.

I just stared at Kaiden's head … a look of anger still on his face.

So deep in my thoughts I didn't hear Joker's warning about the nuke, and the proceeding vibrations from the nuke.

Kaiden's eyes staring at me. His glossed eyes looked accusingly at me.

"_I love you" Kaiden said, holding my hands in his._

"_Kaiden I'm honoured … but I just don't feel the same way…" He eyes … oh his eyes! He was devastated. I had his heart in my hands and I just crushed it._

The eyes … _I did this for you_, they said.

* * *

**Mack's perspective**

"Ash, I'm sorry, I'll see you soon." I said, "Three cover me. Four is down. I have to go, there's a shuttle here, I'll see if I can make it. Mack out."

"Fucking hell Mack!" was all I heard before I cut my com. It was just my original team, Aegohr? It might have been that, not that it matters anymore. Just me, Three and Six were left alive. Four had just gone down to a Geth rocket trooper.

Six and I were ploughing through the Geth hordes, him with his sword, and me, somewhere in thie melee I had picked up a Jugganaut leg, and I was swinging it around like a metallic club. I'm using this after some bastard put a bullet in my assault rifle, and this close up, I can definitely see the appeal that Six gets from this.

"We're nearly there!" Six shouted, using a Geth trooper as a trampoline, using it the crush another trooper beneath his feet.

I nodded at Six, hitting a sniper in the face with my leg/club. It felt good. Pent up anger, going out like the flashlight of the Geth I crush. By the time we got to the shuttle, my artificial leg was broken, it had turned into a retarded flail, Three had second degree burns all over herself, and Six was bleeding from seven separate wounds.

The shuttle was, it turned out, to be a Geth fighter. Knowing what happens in the third game, it's a tight squeeze. Six dived in the pilot seat, while I grabbed a Geth assault rifle off of the ground and laid some suppressing fire while Three ran over to us. The entrance to the ship was on the top, so I had to grab Three's hand to pull her up. We dived in and Six started up ship.

Geth fighters are small, and are suited to hold two troopers at a time. Three hopped in the turrent spot, while stood next to Six.

"It's going to be a bumpy ride." Six said, his helmet still on, so I couldn't see his face. I assume he'd have an amused expression. I put on my oxygen producer, built into my armour, so I could breathe when we left the planet. Three was shooting Geth while being absolutely silent.

Putting my hand on Six's shoulder, I said, "Get us out of here." The turbulence wasn't too bad, but when the nuke went off, I smashed my shoulder against the ceiling. Once again, my height breaks something important.

Unfortunately, there wasn't any windows I the ship, so I couldn't admire the view. Thinking about things I wanted to do, I needed to think of the way to explain my situation to Ash and Shepard. Since I was chosen, I have to assume that Ash made it, and I feel great. I changed cannon.

Giving myself an imaginary pat on the back, I saved both Kaiden and Ash. I'm pretty sure that means I could save more people then? Thane? Mordin? Udina? Perhaps even the people of Kar'shan? And Earth? I feel giddy just thinking about it.

"The Normandy has already left, I assume for the citadel –"Six started to say, but I understand.

"But we're in a Geth fighter, I understand. Where could we go to swap ship?" I suggested, we'd need a place where Geth weren't a target, but where other species were.

Six was thinking the same as me evidently, "Omega?"

"A hive of scum and villainy. Get us there." I said with a smile.

"I assume we'll steal a slave ship?" I span on my heel, to be face to face with Three, who had taken off her mask to reveal a light green Salarian. "Ya Kno? Do a bit of good in the universe?" She said with a smile.

I returned her smile, "Stopping the Krogan Army from the Evil Spectre who wanted to help destroy all sentient life not exciting enough for ya, Three?"

Three's smile got even greater. "Yeah, but please stop calling me 'Three', I do have a name."

"So do I" came a muffled Six.

"I suppose now is as good as any to learn names. I'm Mack." I said with a chuckle.

"Arraya" said Three, or well, Arraya.

"Farrun" shouted Six/Farrun.

I assume I'll be joining Ash and Shepard soon enough, and I'll be able to … well try and explain me being in this universe. That will be an experience.

**####**

**Before anyone asks, no, I don't hate Ash or Kaiden either. **

**This is the start of my own ideas, while I might swap into Shepard's perspective again, it will be fun. I hope you enjoyed chapter 8 :3**

**This was also my longest chapter, only a thousand words, but I hate going over 5000. OCD? Perhaps, but I'm just picky.**

**The last note, I'm aiming for weekly updates, perhaps every Friday, or in this case Tuesday.**

**I lied, this is the last note, I've changed the last chapter, only a little bit, but Tali has no longer forgiven Mack during their argument.**

**Mack**

**####**


	9. Chapter 9 - A Little Side Trip

**Chapter 9**

"So, Farrun, why a sword?" I asked, the only people I saw with swords were the phantoms, and they were Cerberus, and wouldn't turn up until ME3 comes around.

"Old Human culture, used swords as weapons of honour." Farrun replied, "Honour isn't a big thing for most Salarians. We prefer fighting dirty, do anything to win." He paused, frowning. "I hate that."

"Japanese? The bushido code I think it's called?" I asked, I did Karate as a kid, but I gave it up after a few weeks. Too much work, no reward, the sensei spoke in Japanese so I couldn't understand shit. I was a great kicker that much I got, but it was horribly boring.

"Yeah that's it. Humans are almost as honourable as Turians." He smiled, "My husband was one of the most honourable humans I had ever met." He looked at the floor, something dark in his memories.

"I guess he's in a better place then eh?" I said, punching his arm. Not the best show of understanding, I agree, but I don't do well with mourning deaths, I've been called cold. I see it as acceptance. The dead are not dead, they live in our memories. They don't want a crying blubbering mess, I know I wouldn't.

"Yeah, he was a … he was a follower of a common human religion, and that gave him peace of mind." I'm not one to ask about the private lives of other people, so I left him at that.

We were in a hotel room, well, hotel is an exaggeration. Even a _motel_ is too much of a stretch. It was more of a … well a bare room. Two beds, a settee and a shitty TV. There was a film on, offering background noise, showing… I don't know, some Turian film featuring lots of blood and pointless gore. Three, or Arraya, had gone scouting for a new ship, she wanted to rescue slaves, a noble goal but I thought that getting back to the Citadel was imperative …But, Arraya wants to make as much difference as possible to Omega. She'd be perfect for Garrus' squad.

Farrun was teaching me some sword moves, after he complemented my awesome clubbing skills back on Virmire. He showed me how to 'be one with my sword' and I brought a decent Vibroblade from the market, and we were practising when Arraya came back.

"Okay," She started, putting a data pad on the nearest bed. And no, the Salarians slept in the beds, I slept on the settee. "A Batarian slave group, they're arriving tomorrow. Small frigate, Farrun, you could fly is easy. Problem is, there is about two dozen batarians. Their leader, pretty fucked up guy, Tia'Killo, is a veteran and a pretty good warrior too. He might be a problem, but the rest of his team are just generic Batarian troopers."

"Just a day in the office then?" I said with a grin. Arraya returned my smile, "we going in stealth style?" She nodded, "Good." I said, before picking up my new blade and lunging at Farrun. He was ready and he parried without putting in a smidge of effort.

"You are getting better. Practice session tomorrow?" My grin intensified.

"Fuck yeah."

"What's your story Mack?" Arraya asked, before typing something onto the datapad. This distracted me, allowing Farrun to leave a small slice on my bicep.

"Fuck!" I shouted. I parried a side blow, sliding his blade down my own. I span my blade, and flicked my wrist upwards, forcing my smaller opponent backwards. "No story." I state, my breath heavy. Farrun countered back quickly. I side stepped a lunge at my legs, bringing my own sword downwards. The lizard was quick, diving past me. "I'm a soldier, trained to kill, seen bad shit, done bad shit."

I struck Farrun in the leg, making him gasp. I threw myself back, dodging a counter attack. Arraya dropped her datapad, inspecting our battle. "Everyone has a story… why aren't you wary of us? Salarians I mean. Most humans who aren't, have a story …" She frowned at Farrun, "How come the human hit you Farrun? You're normally invincible." Sarcasm dripping off of every word.

Farrun frowned, and then looked at her, lowering his blade. Another quick flick of my wrist gave him another wound on his arm. He gasped, looking shocked. "Arraya!" He pulled up his sword again, keeping his eye on mine. I remember reading somewhere, a man's body can lie, but his eyes cannot. Obviously, Salarians learn this as well. "He isn't just a human." I grinned at him, lunging again. Farrun was quick, almost as quick as me. But not quite. He blocked my blade, and tried to feint, I didn't fall for it, leaving his defence scattered. I held my blade to his throat. "He's like the bastard child of a Krogan and a Rachni. Quick and strong."

I licked my lips, "Why thank you, but there is nothing wrong in being second best Mr Farrun." I smiled. He looked aghast at my words. "I'm joking!" I laughed at his expression, offering my hand. He took it and smiled.

"People say humans are irrational, unpredictable. I agree, that's what makes them wonderful."

I couldn't help but laugh. Arraya did too, but the mysterious sniper still mystified me. I knew next to nothing about her.

"You got anyone waiting for you back home?" I asked.

"Just family, no mate, if that's what you're asking. How about you?" She replied, she perked at the mention of her family.

"You remember Gunnery Chief Williams? Back on Virmire?" She gave me a confused expression.

"The woman who killed the Krogan." Farrun told her, "She is your mate?"

"No!" I laughed, "I wanted her to be, don't get me wrong, she isn't just yet." I said smiling. This universe isn't too bad if I must admit.

"Huh, who would have guessed." Arraya said with a smile, "Could you guys take a break now? I would love some sleep."

I threw Farrun my sword, "Looser gets to clean the weapons." I said with my award winning smile.

He sighed, much to my amusement. "I suppose that's fair." Arraya laughed too.

It's a good time to be alive.

* * *

**Saren's Perspective (I know right, holy shit!)**

"You got the wrong h-human!"

"I told you Cyrus, he wasn't there!" I was shouting now. Vorcha were just as much as scum as Humans, if not, they were worse.

"Enough with the excuses! You failed."

"You haven't told me what he's done!" I was growling, portraying my anger towards this petty creature.

"He has more knowledge of your universe than both of us combined! My brother seeks to stop the Reapers, so he brought an expert."

Brother? Related to problem, makes you a likely cause. Vorcha were like pyjaks, reproducing and filling in the holes left in the system. "How? How is that even possible." I growled.

"Cyrus. Leave the Turian, his species is not like yours." Sovereign growled.

Cyrus bristled. He was dressed in some retro garb. It made him look elite. Even when he spoke, he tried to project power but it failed. Like all Vorcha, he is simply a rodent.

"Of course, my master. I will try to locate this h-human before he becomes more of a threat." And like that, he was gone. _Interdimensional Teleportation_ he called it. Science fiction and hocus pocus is all. Smoke and mirrors.

"Can Cyrus be trusted?" I ask, vermin are there to be exterminated, not to give advice.

"No. But he bares the mark of the Harbinger. That is enough." Was the ominous reply.

_Harbinger._ He had been mentioned many times. The leader or perhaps, Commander, of the Reapers. He was the one to impress. If I were save the Turian race, then I would need to impress him. He, from what I had been told, was a merciless god who thrived on power. That was an oversimplification, naturally. But I knew he was placating me. The weak would be purged, while the strong, such as myself, would rise to power.

I will rule with the Reapers. The Councillor was a fool; even the Primarch will join the ancestors. They will be the first to be purged. Then I, hah, I will consolidate the remaining Turians and control the strongest. Sure, they will resist to begin with, but a show of power and they will fall in line.

I felt a grin come to my lips.

"Saren. I feel your thirst for power."

Oh Sovereign? You know nothing of what I feel. What I lust.

"Go to my core, I would like to give you some new implants before the final attack."

Oh, poor machine god. What little you understand. You think you will dominate everything. Yet I will the control the controller.

Pitiful humans. I'm yet to understand the power that this new one has. Why does the Vorcha want him dead so badly? I refuse to believe he knows as much as he does. No one could know the future. For the moment, I know what I need to do, and that is to kill _Shepard_.

I swiped at the light in my room. It hit the wall with a satisfying smash.

Shepard. The bitch's skull will be crushed beneath my heel. I felt my anger rising again. Why did I get this feeling whenever I thought of her?

To get my talons around her neck … "Arg!" My fist smashed my rifle into a million pieces.

"Saren. The implants will allow you crush more than your gun."

"Thank you for that. I will go now." Sovereign was a, what was the human term? A bastard.

_It is all necessary. _

I know it is, to rule with the Reapers.

I broke into laugher, maniacal and terrifying.

_What have I become?_

It is irrelevant. I will get these implants, and I will be able to destroy Shepard, this … other human, and then dominate with the Reapers single handily. It is for the greater good.

The greater good.

* * *

**Back to my perspective**

**Seven months before the attack on Eden Prime …**

_Stepping out of the transport craft, the sunlight was my first thought. Shit, why on Earth would I choose here? Well, I suppose that's the point, it's not Earth._

_Eden Prime. The Jewel of Humanity. _

_Never did like hot weather. Its why I love space. It was summer, so I suppose we could get winters like my tour in Canada. God, I love snow. Or perhaps it's the softness of the cold air on my skin. _

"_Staff Lieutenant." I turned and saluted to the man standing there. _

_Major Leon Baker. He was my superior during my short stay here, on Eden Prime. He was a big man, at least seven feet, with a handle bar moustache and typical military buzz cut. He had piercing eyes, that make even a Turian want to look at the floor. I wasn't a Turian though. _

_I was a war hero. But still, I was here simply because high command was jealous. I know it's more than that, but that's how it feels. I got a hero's welcome when I got back to Earth after clearing the slavers, but a secret meeting with Admiral Hackett confined me to the 'wonders of the new world'. I was here because of I disobeyed orders. _

"_Sir!" I barked. Becoming more like a statue than one would have thought possible. I looked into his eyes, not pulling away from his death gaze. _

_He seemingly ignored me. Had he not been looking at me, I would assume he hadn't noticed my presence. _

_After a few minutes he spoke. _

"_You're to head to the ship port, get there and report to the squad leader. You're going to meet with Lieutenant Hannover." He stated, before leaving me at my trooper transport. _

_It was only a couple of minutes away, so walking was no problem. I saw a few soldiers mulling about by the door to the barracks. Although, 'barracks' wasn't the word. Barn, was more accurate. It was large building with large double doors. _

"_Hey, new blood." The one bulky soldier said, turning his friends' attention from their conversation to me. _

_Four lads, two girls. All of them tough looking soldier types. The males all had shoulders that struggle to fit though most door frames, while the women had the exact same. The males all had buzz cuts, they could be a large set of twins if going on that feature alone. The girls both their hair in buns, one brown, one blond. _

_They all turned and approached me, forming a semi circle around me. The brown haired girl stepped in front of me, close enough I could smell her breathe. Minty. _

"_So new blood. Got a name?" She said, jabbing my shoulder. Her friends laughed, the one guy who first spoke guffawed. _

"_Mack." I state. Not stepping up to the bait. _

"_What's your number blood?" She asked, jabbing me again. _

"_49910190."_

"_What's wrong with you blood? Scared yet?" She went to jab me again, but I caught her arm. She pulled her other arm back, readying a punch, but she was rusty. I had been on tour the week before, while I could see the weight she had put on from too many weeks not on service. I twisted her arm behind her back, at the same time I kicked the back of her knees bringing her to her knees. She let out a small gasp. _

_By this time, only one soldier had reacted. He had drawn his pistol, but he was still too slow. His first shot made me drop to my knees, his second almost hit the girl on her knees causing her to scream. He hesitated on his third and that was his mistake. I pulled the girl's gun from her holster and brought it to her head._

"_Yield." I shouted. Now, all the soldiers had guns aimed at me. None of them yielded like I asked, so I took a look for a superior officer. I was happy. The girl on her knees was a Gunnery Chief, the highest ranking marine here. Two of the males were service officers, the other girl was a private and the others were Corporals. I was three ranks higher than the chief. _

"_I am Staff Lieutenant Mack *******, and I am looking for your superior. You have shamed the name of the marines and you all will be reprimanded for this shameful episode." I bark. The fastest soldier, one of the service officers, checked out my chevrons. He blanched when he saw I was telling the truth and promptly holstered his gun before saluting like a mother fucker. _

_The others were slower, and copied the motion. I grinned, when the other girl looked at the chief below me. The look said 'holy shit I'm sorry'. _

"_Who is your superior?" I bark._

"_H-Hannover s-sir!" Whimpered the other girl, Christ, she couldn't be older than twenty. _

"_Where is he?" I ask. I realise how much anger I'm projecting at the marines here, but they were trying to bully a potential recruit. _

"_Through the barracks, first door on the left." The fast ass service officer informed me. _

"_Names." I state. _

"_Barton." He says first. _

"_Thompson." The second service officer. _

"_V-violet." The blond lass said. _

"_Kingston." The two corporals replied, together. Twins. _

"_Williams." The girl on her knees said. _

_I normally prefer a girl on her knees, but right this second I was still pissed at being posted to colony. _

_I didn't look back, or even offer to help the girl up, I simply stormed past them into the barracks. It was a decent size, could fit up to about 50 people. Cots filled this main room, but there was a low ceiling, suggesting another room upstairs. Hopefully it was a mess hall. _

_I turned to the door on my immediate left, the plaque reading, "Colonial Defence Militia Commander Hannover". Every colony had one, especially ones this close to the terminus systems. But I only saw a few soldiers. Back on my home colony, they had 24/7 patrols, simply to make people feel safe. I could hear muffled shouting, but I wanted to know what I was supposed to be doing here. _

"_Its racism!" _

"_It's the rules and I cannot change it for one Turian." _

_I opened the door to see a group of Turians arguing with the Commander. Four to be precise, only one female but she looked like she wanted to avoid confrontation. That hadn't worked. The oldest looking Turian, the one with more scars than the others, had both talons on the commander's desk trying to look as intimidating as possible. _

"_We live here! Not to mention you're understaffed!" He shouted. _

"_Jarron. It's the rules. No Turians are allowed anywhere near a military installation on Earth!" The commander countered. _

_If there's one thing I hate, no, utterly despise, its racism. On any level. I was a soldier, I had trained in the N7 program and passed with ease. I knew the rules by heart. _

"_Colonial charter, chapter 6 'Colonial Militia' paragraph 3.4. "Any person who had a place of residence and pays relevant taxes, has the right to join the militia and home forces. The Commander has no right to refuse entry to any living persons on any grounds other than hampering disabilities or injuries."" I chime. All heads turn towards me. _

"_Ah, it's my replacement. Lieutenant, you're being promoted. Congratulations while I get off this rock." Hannover said before walking out of his office, leaving four surprised and very confused people. _

_I walked over to his desk and stared at an email that was open on his computer. I read it out loud, simply so I could understand it better and explain it to my Turian friends. _

"_Hannover, your concerns have been noted and your replacement is on his way. You are being reassigned to 5__th__ fleet, the Apollo ship to serve as the XO. Admiral Hackett." _

_I re-read the letter, making sure I understood that correctly. Mentally head slapping, I understood why I was here. I wasn't being punished. I was here to do good and shake up a lazy colony. Militia was a burden that the colonial governors didn't like to spend money on, so occasionally, veterans were sent in to shake up the colony. _

"_We want to join the Militia." The head Turian said simply. _

"_Okay." I state. _

_He appeared to do a double take on my response that makes me laugh. _

"_That's it?" He asked, even his partners were laughing at the ridiculous situation. _

"_Yup." I start to dismiss them, but I have an afterthought. "I assume you all have advanced close combat training?" I ask._

_They all nod, the girl speaking up, "I'm a specialist, could we ask why?" _

"_The force here is lazy, I want to shake them up. Plus, I'm looking for a challenge." I add with a wink. _

_The head Turian simply snorts, "Alirrah is going through spectre training, you'd have no chance against my daughter." _

_I laugh, "Go and speak to Gunnery Chief Williams, tell her … get everyone in the barracks tomorrow morning at 6. That includes any new or potential recruits." I say before sitting in my chair, "Dismissed I guess." I add with a chuckle. _

_The head Turian, Jorrun I guess, nods with a flare of his mandibles. He's smiling? Good. _

* * *

I awoke startled. Shit.

I've never had a dream so intense. It was like I was actually there. I was living the moment. I'm not a moron, I know that wasn't just a dream.

It was a memory.

My prior, if I was correct. I could recognise the location, Eden Prime that much was obvious. I saw Ash, and I could recognise one of the soldiers that was there when I arrived. _What did that me?_

Shit. This isn't going away, but what can I do? Perhaps when I go back to sleep, I'll have another one?

Decidedly, I sat up. Rubbing my tired eyes, that were heavy after lack of sleep, but I had no wish to sleep. I had stuff to do before we take this slave ship.

I looked over at the two beds, both Salarians were sleeping soundly. Good, one of my peeves was waking people. People always show contempt when you're the one knocking everything over while they try to sleep. I once fell into a drum kit.

I stood up, almost falling over my tired legs. "Fuck!" I cried, I went to steady myself on the wall, but my hand went straight through it.

I pulled my fist out, quickly glancing back at my companions – neither had stirred. I let out a sigh of relief.

Walking over to my mirror I started to get dressed, admiring my body. I still haven't got used to it. Its just not me. Or well, it doesn't feel like me. It was what I always dreamed of in all honestly. I never wanted to be a soldier, perhaps a teacher. Yeah, I let myself go, then got fit enough to win a 100m sprint, never much more.

I couldn't help but flex. And then I sniggered noticing my 'bulge'.

I chose a simple grey outfit, all futuristic and shit. Similar to one of Shepard's in ME2 in fact, although my favourite then was that stupid cowboy looking one.

Once I felt I was presentable, I unlocked the door and stepped into the hallway. A glance back shows Farrun and Arraya are still sleeping and I smile. Salarians sleep like newts, all curled up.

I had to walk past a few homeless/junkie/prostitutes on my way out, it reminded me of the old crack house games like GTA had. I felt I had to stick my nose up at them.

It took a few minutes, almost half an hour in fact before I got to an armour shop.

'Nova Arma'. Painfully obvious human origin. 'Nova' – The plural from the Latin 'novum' meaning 'new thing', although most people don't know that, and 'arma' the latin for armour. What is it with humans and latin referenced? Even in this universe.

Entering the small shop, which was, I must mention, was next to an unnamed club. This club had batarians falling out of its ears. They were everywhere. It was a great place for a human to set up shop.

"Willkommen!" Shouted the clerk. He looked about mid thirties. Friendly enough face, but his eyes were wary. This was a man who had seen combat, most likely against batarians.

Let's test out my German. It's been a while since I used it in actual conversation but I was pretty strong at it. I used to end up watching films with German subtitles and swapping around. It was never as natural as English, so my German always came out anglicised.

"Hello my good man!" I ask, exaggerating the cheer in my voice, "I'm looking for something… I'm not sure, but let me see your best quality armour."

He looked at me expectantly, few customers I bet. "Ja, of course, over here." He ushered me over to a stand, "It's called; 'Der Terminus Armour'"

I knew what he had in mind, and I was … awed at it.

The Terminus Armour was my favourite armour in both Mass effect two, and three. But the games don't capture it's … awe inspiring intensity. It was pure black. Like obsidian, but not quite. The mesh sections around the arms and groin had a diamond quality. It sparkled. The red lines seemed to flash at my presence, like it knew I would be a great owner. It had a demonic quality I couldn't ignore.

"By the nine …" I state, mouth gaping. "Can I try it on?"

It took mere moments to put on. Perfect fit. And it was the most comfortable apparel I had ever worn. Yes, even more so than my skin. It was perfect. The HUD activated while I was still admiring the fit, making me jolt at a voice.

"Statement: VAI version 1.56 online." _An AI?_

The HUD was like my eye sight but better. I could see everything with the utmost quality. I turned my head to face the German who was looking at me expectantly. Suddenly, something similar to Fallout's VAT system appeared. A name appeared above him, Wolfgang Himmler, that made me pause. Focusing on him, the automated voice continued, in a particular accent that I couldn't place.

"Informed Statement: Wolfgang Himmler, ex Alliance Sergeant, dishonourable discharge after torturing a Turian slaver, breaking Citadel interrogation law, clause Gyrot Huyle, using conflicting amino acids as a method of pacification. Went AWOL after failing to meet parole."

It wasn't unpleasant in the slightest, perhaps similar to EDI's. "Are you an AI?" I ask.

"Condescending reply: No. I am an automatic interface equipped by my original manufacturer, Cyrus Delorian." Huh. So she was like EDI? In a sense? I don't understand this level of technology. Perhaps this is normal and the games didn't focus on it…

I shrug it off, I got new armour. Well, I haven't paid for it yet but then again, I didn't plan to. I'm thankful my clerk is a psychopath, suits me well.

I pulled out my pistol, and struck a 'returning hero' pose. "How do I look?" I ask to no one in particular.

"You look super!" Laughed Wolfgang in heavily accented English.

"Terrifying." Came my ear piece. VAI? I should really get an actual name for her.

I squinted at Wolfgang, my targeting system suggested a double shot to the head, or shot to the torso and then to kill him while he bleeds out. There was a suggested 90% chance of success.

"VAI, should I kill Wolfgang or disable him and leave him?" I suggested. I was pretty much set in my plan to kill this man. He was nice enough, but he was a criminal. He deserved to die. If that wasn't reason enough, I need good equipment to help Shepard, and even to get back home.

"Musing: By Batarian standards he would be a rich man. By Turian standards he would dead. By ancient human standards, he'd be tortured." By her tone, I know she lied to me. This is an AI. One with emotion and one that, surprisingly, reminded me of the evil robot in knights of the old republic, HB-something or another.

Joining in my new partner's convictions, I choose to shoot the German in the head. My pistol, it turns out, to my advantage no less, that it had a silencer attachment. It must be built in because I see no disconcernable extended barrel.

He hits the floor with a dull thud. His blood and brain matter now cover the wall behind him, making some other armour look well used.

I holstered my gun and walked out the shop.

What did I just do?

_You killed a man not worth living._

That's good right? But why do I feel sick…

_Spilling the blood of evil takes more what most organics are capable of. _

That makes sense I suppose… why did I want to kill him… the urge … I couldn't contain it.

_You will learn to savour the feeling_.

The suit. The suit? The suit is talking to me. Controlling me? No. Influencing me. Similar to what the Reapers do to their victims. This suit isn't Reaper tech though.

"Vai, give me info about this suit." I state.

"Observation: The 'Terminus Armour' gets its title from its home, the Terminus Systems. Like all modern combat hard-suits, the Terminus Assault Armour is environmentally sealed with an independent air supply for use in space and extreme planetary conditions, with an onboard 'micro-frame VI' capable of running a suite of battle management software. To prevent detection by passive thermal sensors, body heat is channelled to the base of the feet, where is can be dispersed on the ground."

"That's pretty fucking awesome." I laugh, "I'm lucky that his business was bad enough he let me try on the best armour in stock eh?"

"Obvious Statement: He was weak." This ominous reply left me silent. What I have got myself into?

* * *

**#####**

**Well, this is chapter nine up.**

**Note one – Thanks to the reviews who I got back to, and the one of them who I'm waiting on, your insight is brightening :)**

**All reviews are welcomed, especially the ones who tell me how to improve :)**

**Mack**

**#####**


	10. Chapter 10 -Taking The Arcadia

**Chapter 10 – Taking the Arcadia**

_**Inside the Arcadia**_

Tia'Killo wasn't happy. He was livid. Aria hadn't took him seriously, and so meant trading on Omega was dangerous. How was he supposed to know that the 'bitch of Omega' didn't like his family? The Killos were one of the bigger slave houses from Khar'shan, importing and exporting huge quantities of slaves. Plus they were rich. Mercenaries and slavers came to them, just to get a take.

"Set course for Khar'shan, might as well find another buyer for this batch." Tia spoke with a growl.

His XO simply nodded and jogged away, leaving Tia in his personal cabin.

_Fucking Asari. Fucking Humans._ Both of the races had their heads far enough down their own backsides to eat their own shit. Tia growled.

"It only gets worse Killo."

The voice was not expected. The Batarian jumped, letting out a gasp. Turning around, _What?_

A Vorcha. But he was different to the filth Tia normally dealt with. He had an … an Aura about him. He commanded authority.

"Who are you Vorcha?" Tia growled, reaching for his pistol. When his hand felt nothing but air, he realised the Vorcha was swinging it around his forefinger, well talon-claw-thing. "W-what do you want…" Tia felt his arrogance leave him, while this Vorcha would not last a minute if he was in the same position.

"Names have no meaning, I will be leaving momentarily." The Vorcha …Tia wasn't even sure it was an actual Vorcha. When he spoke, the usual glottal sounds were almost muted, they were there though.

"What do you want then?" Tia snapped. It was all an act. This Vorcha was … he had to be some sort of bastard experiment of the Blood Pack. _Pah, all they are good for is using brute force. _

"By tomorrow, you will have been attacked by a group of dangerous men. I would fortify your ship until these …intruders are dead." _What?_

"Who are they? I will not hide. My men are strong-"

"Your men are but varren on a dead Krogan." The Vorcha shouted. The shear venom in his voice forced Tia into a sullen silence. "They are special forces, one human, two salarians." Tia waited for the list to continue, but was met with a stare.

"That's it?" Tia laughed. The Vorcha glared at him.

"You have but twenty men, if you cannot kill them, you are to delay them for as long as possible." Tia stopped laughing, but the weight had not sunk in deep enough.

"I will have their heads mounted on my wall." He said, giving the Vorcha a, what he thought was, a murderous killer. It was more like a hopeful lunatic.

An explosion caught the pair off guard.

"What was that?" Tia shouted.

"I guess I was wrong. Kill them Killo." The Vorcha said, walking out of the quarters.

"W-wait!" Tia gasped, walking into the corridor.

Nothing.

No one was there. The Vorcha had …_vanished._

_**Somewhere else…**_

Cyrus smiled. Killo will do. The human and Salarians will at least be slowed. Saren will open the gate, and Harbinger will make his arrival. At least five years earlier than when it happened before.

_I like it when a plan goes well._

* * *

**Outside the Arcadia**

The Arcadia was a human made ship. Like most slave ships, hijacked by degenerates and sold to slavers. It was much smaller than the Normandy, but could easily hold, perhaps a fifty people. Shape wise, it was a standard Alliance looking ship. Long pointed bow with a curved roof section. It looked similar to the Normandy in fact, but smaller, and without the colours. The colours, wow, used in what looks like a shoddy paint job.

A black over coat, sure, I understand that, black is an intimidating colour, but then it has red streaks. Sounds awesome? No. It looks like someone got a paint roller and instead of using it properly, oh no, it was as if someone ate the roller and puked in lines.

Oh! And the menacing looking hand on the rear. Reminded me of the one owning to the Dark Brotherhood.

I also learnt some other shit about Turian military and Asari religion. VAI was just as bored as me. VI my arse.

"Hydrogen." She said.

"Explosive." I quipped, after a moment. We were playing the association game.

We had been waiting for almost two hours now. At the top of this tower, I had my Black Widow aiming at one of the sentries around the scout ship. When Arraya gave the word, I was to take him out so Farrun could get in. There had been … complications.

Arraya had been, well, long story short a group of thugs thought they could mug her. But she had to find a new gun after, 'it got lost'.

I sighed.

"Mass Effect core." VAI said.

"Lightspeed." I reply. She kept saying some really random shit I didn't know about. Like really obscure planets.

"Vilaggo Racing." I sigh.

"Can you change your voice?" I asked. Her voice wasn't bad persay, but I wanted something to remind me of home. Currently it was a, what I assume, the American standard. It wasn't bad at all. But I wanted something british, something I could relate too.

"Amused Statement: Of course, but if this is because you lost, you are a sore loser." She stated, "What do you have in mind?"

"How about a Geordie accent?" I say, conscious of smile.

"Query: Like this?" She asked, it almost felt… sheepish. The accent she chose was a softened version of the

"What do you prefer?" I asked, I don't care if she's an AI, but I would like her to admit it. You can't play games like the Association game with a VI. Plus she kept sighing.

"Statement: I like this one, it sounds much more fun." She said, if she were human, I can imagine her bouncing on her toes.

"Mack? Now." Arraya.

I wasn't stupid. I had kept one eye on the sentry for the entirety of the last two hours. While talking to VAI, I hadn't stop watching him. He was smoking a, I suppose, a cigar.

My shot rang out, I forgot to silence it. Oh well, it didn't matter. I hit my target… and, well, most the space around the target. His head was gone, not in a dissimilar fashion to the ME3 style. The spurting blood was there, and that made me a little queasy – but I can't let feeling sick stop me from helping Shep.

Through my scope, I saw Farrun. He ran to the airlock of the ship and planted the explosive. If the plan was going well, Arraya should be planting flashbangs through the various vents of the ship. Hopefully, the crew should have been deafened enough to be easy enough to kill.

The door explosives go, sending the corpse of sentry on a little trip. A split second after, the flashbangs activate, and I can hear them from my spot, which is a fair trek away. I wouldn't like to be in that ship right now. The only experience I have with flashbangs was when I went paintballing, absolutely terrible little fuckers.

Now for the fun shit. I'm normally apprehensive of heights, it runs in the family, but my prior has no such misgivings. Well, my prior seems to dislike clowns, something related to a Krogan. Off topic!

I pulled out my grappling gun. I aimed at, fired at and consequently hit, the docking arm holding the Arcadia. It was mission impossible shit right there, I felt awesome zip lining down towards my prey.

"Query: Do we get to kill them now?" VAI asked, I laughed while sliding.

"We do." I reply simply.

I hit the ground harder than I expected, but, remembering my training I turned a potentially dangerous landing into a roll that would impress a gymnast. _My training._ It feels odd referring it to that.

I had landed on the top of the Arcadia. I found the emergency hatch I was going to enter it by, to my surprise it looked just like one you'd find on a submarine. A circle shape with a turning circle on top.

Less than a minute later I had landed inside the ships engine room. Five Batarians, only one of them was armed. I drew my pistol, a double tap and he was down. I had no choice with the others. One after the other, a single bullet to each of them was all it took. If it wasn't for VAI's cheering throughout the battle, no. Massacre. The four batarians went down like dominos.

"Wow nice one!"

"Shit your good!"

"Eat bullets!"

While VAI outbursts may have been amusing, I had no wish to kill unarmed people. Yes, they were slavers and probably made a decent wage off of forcing people into slavery, but they were still holding their heads from the flashbangs. _Shit. _I need a bath after this.

I stepped into the corridor, favouring my assault rifle over my pistol. From what I know, there are three floors, Captain's quarters, the general area and then the holding area. The Engines were at the back of the general area.

"Farrun, Arraya how are we?" I ask.

Farrun was the first to reply, "Good, there are about a dozen slaves, but they're … taking caring of the guards."

"Good, I think I'd need the same thing if I were them." I reply.

"Yeah, they still have enough energy to kick pretty hard." Farrun laughed, and I joined him.

"Get to the CIC, I count thirteen guys here, flashbangs didn't make it here. They've managed to dig in!" Arraya shouted frantically.

I jumped into action. As Farrun tried to get a better reading of the situation, I was running blindly towards Arraya.

"Advice: Mack. Turn this valve." VAI said, her voice cold. Void of any emotion that was there before.

I did as she was told.

Three seconds later, all I could here were screams. "Arraya, did that help?" I asked.

"Shit, yeah." Her breath was heavy, paused between words. "It opened a pipe; hot air was blasted right into the group. Hit everyone…" Shit. "Most of them are … shit. Most are still alive …"

I felt sick. Hot air …I assume she meant _really_ hot air.

I had to lean against the wall. _Shit._ I have no idea why this got to me so much. I've killed since been in this world, but its generally been quick – bullet to the brain – but hot fucking air…

I felt myself retch, but I had to hold any sick in. It'd only be worse if I did it in my helmet.

Before I could really do anything, a sharp pain entered my side, and I found myself being thrown across the corridor. I landed on my other side, and kept rolling.

"This? This is what I have to be scared of?" A loud boisterous laugh followed it. I could recognise the batarian voice, and my sickness was replaced anger. I assume it was my prior's, as it was a raging anger.

"You should be." It wasn't voice that came from me as I stood. I could feel the menace radiating off of me. "You won't have to be scared for much longer."

My had gone before I had realised I was even holding it. But the bastard had a shield. And he laughed at my – no – my prior's menace. He raised his gun at me, something that looked like the bastard child of a shotgun and a grenade launcher.

"You can't hit me before I hit human." He snarled.

"Let me…" VAI whispered.

My omnitool, which I had forgotten about, flickered, and the batarians shields exploded. _Overload_.

I shot again, double tap, the first bullet hitting his shoulder, making him start to scream, his gun slipping from his hand. My second bullet his lower left eye. He still wasn't dead.

"W-what t-the he…hell?" He screamed. He fell to his knees.

I strolled over to him. I still felt sick, about the hot air, but now I had a prisoner. But not for long.

"Kill him. He'll just be a burden." VAI seemed hell bent on not leaving anyone alive. Mental note – ask her about that later.

"But he can't do anything now… he's out of the fight." I argued. The one-less-eye batarian was now crying, and then yelping as his tears fell into his gaping eye wound.

"He's a slaver isn't he? Then why should he live when he cares not when his charges lose their lives."

I thought about this. She had a point. If I were in his position, he'd kill me in a heartbeat. But that isn't the case. His life is in my hands, and whether or not I kill him depends on the kind person I want, no, need to be.

"Thank whatever gods you worship." I said, before continuing on my way towards the Captains quarters.

The dragging sound, metal on metal made me pause. I glanced back.

Gurgling laughter and a snarl were my greeting. Oh, and a shotgun. "I am going to gut y-"

I pulled the trigger before he could finish. I don't know how he didn't see my hands, or at least consider why I wouldn't be faster a second time. I sighed. I gave him his life, that's a damn sight more lenient than _anyone_ else would have been. Shepard I assume would have killed him; she seems more of a neutral Shepard. Garrus, without a shadow of a doubt would have killed him. Tali and Liara might have gave him the same option as me, but then he would have killed them … shit.

"Mack, Arraya, the prisoners are the remainders of the original crew and want to help us get back to the Citadel." Farrun said down my earpiece.

"Rodger that, how many slavers we got left?" I responded.

"One of the prisoners said a few have gone for shore leave, so we might be able to leave before they get back." He replied.

"Get the crew to get the ship ready and we'll go then, get a group to do a sweep too." Arraya. I doubt she was happy about the slavers that were burnt. _Hot air._ I shivered again, now was not the time. Shepard needed our help.

* * *

**Prior to the Attack on Eden Prime**

_The Gunnery Chief wasn't happy. Neither were most of the soldiers. Neither was I. Thrust into a position of power, I didn't want nor was I ready for. I hated to lead. Men are the tools of war, but I was better with my own hands. _

_Time and time again I went on solo mission, proved to everyone that I was the best. All it took was artistic interpretations of my orders and then BLAM - Desk job. _

_Eden Prime has pretty much the same axis spin as Earth, but there are 26 hours in a day with a leap year every five years. And, like Earth, the entire colony is separated by nation like states, it was much like the original colonies on the Americas in the 16__th__ Century. There is a United Nations style system though. The 'Eden Prime Defence Force' was the name of the collective group, but each city had its own militia. My city, New Birmingham, was defacto capital, it was where things involving the entire planet happened as well as where most of the quaternary sector jobs were. _

_Each city has its own Governor and Militia Commander, which is what I have to do, and all of the Commanders report to a Commander in chief, who was usually an Admiral. We have to submit tons of fucking reports. Oh, and to top it off, I was in charge of over a hundred troops, luckily, Hannover had cut down this list to about fifty where Lieutenant and it was quite an efficient model. I planned to keep it. I was a squad leader when teammates where involved, not a general. _

"_With all due respect, sir, what if they're spies?" William's bitching was really fucking helping. _

"_Maybe you're right? Maybe, just maybe, our allies want to get spies into a colony on the edge of space that, get this, no one wants!" I say, my voice oozing with sarcasm. I don't understand her aversion to, for a lack of a better term, 'Aliens'. Sure, we fought the Turians, and then proved we could handle ourselves; the Turians even had to get the Asari to save their hinds. _

"_Sir. The Hierarchy is known to be inherently racist to humans, why are we letting them join our military!" She shouted. She was adamant that these xenophobic policies are law. _

_I shrugged before speaking, "We aren't as bad as them are we? We're better." She smiled. _

"_We are yeah… but I still think that –" _

"_They are going to help us, no, you lose this decadence that this small militia has fallen into." I state, holding my hand to silence her. _

"_We don't need the –"_

"_We do." I state, a little too forcibly, she flinched as if my words physically hurt, "I mean, Turians have to join the Army, so they learn advanced techniques. One of them is in Spectre training for gods sake, we can use the help." She frowned at my words._

"_So you want humans to use Turian techniques?" _

_I thought about this. The techniques Turians learn is extremely offensive. It uses the Turian physique primarily, so only well built humans can use the most advanced ones effectively. The ones I learnt took me a few years, even if it was part time along with my N7 training. The more basic, and by basic I mean by a Turian standard, were SAS equivalent standard. Maybe it was excessive for a small militia, but it would look great for me. I mean, seriously. A lazy militia becomes Turian foot soldier standard? Fuck yeah. _

"_I suppose, I'd be happy with STG tactics, but Turian suits my goals." I say with a small smile. "Dismissed Chief." _

_She pulled a tight salute, making her breasts bulge. She noticed my noticing, and ended with a pursing of her lips. I couldn't stop my chuckle causing Williams to mutter something, presumably, very mean about me. _

_A few hours later, I had got through not even half of the paper work my predecessor left for me. Training reports, potential damage reports in case of a Batarian raid, defence effectiveness, new recruits, of which we had five. Three of the Turians had signed on, as well two new humans. To my dismay the Spectre, Alirrah? Whatever her name, she wasn't going to be joining us, simply Jorrun Lyons, Yulta Nalado, Masil Biltook, and the humans, Francis and Henri Henderson, both who just turned 18. _

_Messaging them all with the email –_

'_Jorrun, Yulta, Masil, Kyle and Henry. _

_Congratulations! You are now part of the Eden Prime Defense Force. _

_Tomorrow morning, you will be in the barracks at 0730 sharp. _

_Lieutenant Commander Mack'_

_I was happy with that, gives praise and it official enough that they will take it seriously. I decided against messaging the Chief as well, it'll be a nice surprise. _

_A bit of stumbling through the colony, I found the bar. Small place, perhaps fit the entire fifty members of the militia if they stood side by side. Other than the small size, it was a small warehouse looking thing. Very bland. And a neon sign. "Eden Prime Time". Classy. _

_I could hear the music from outside, heavy. Just the way I like it. _

_Before I could even open the door, one the troopers who gave me the amazing welcome committee fell out, emptying the contents of his stomach all over the floor. _

"_Thompson was it?" I asked politely. _

_He looked even worse when he looked up. Of course, I was right, and whatever was left in his digestive system ended up on my boots. _

_I laughed, the situation amusing me. "Yes Thompson, I'll see you tomorrow." I said, laugher in my voice. I stepped passed the intoxicated trooper and into the bar. _

_This was my style. It was a retro style, an old Earth style. A rock bar I suppose, the kind of thing you'd find back home in Scotland, Glasgow was fucking full of them. Of course, they were fuller with more angry Scots threatening to 'mehrk a woman oota yor sister'. I smiled at the happy memories. As much as I liked being a soldier, nothing beats home. _

_Instead of an army of angry Scots, it sheltered about a dozen soldiers, a few of them I didn't recognise. I hadn't gone out of my way to meet them; that was planned for tomorrow. But a few of them appeared to recognise me, at least by the way my original greeting party where here saluting me. _

_I waved my hand and wandered over to them. "We're off duty, call me Mack." I say with a smile. _

_The group sort of looked between each other, disputing whether or not to let me join them. Of course, the unwritten rules of 'off duty' dictate that you DO NOT say no to your superior. _

"_Sir, I mean Mack, how come your … here?" One of the Service officers I think, the guy who was the fastest when I arrived. His name escape me. _

"_I am human" I laugh, earning a few nervous chuckles. "I want to know the people I'm going to be spending time with." I say, extremely conscious of the awkwardness. Everyone is either looking at the floor or their drinks. The music had stopped and the only noise me. That had to change. _

_I cleared my throat and jumped upon the table. "Drinks are on me!" I shout. A round of cheers and laughter are my response. It wasn't as loud or as cheerful as I wanted but it'll do. A round of beers always helps. I hopped off the table and headed over to the omni-jukebox. _

_It was a hard choice, between the Turian band 'Palaven Sable Yaourt' which blended Turian war chants with techno, or the recent Shanxi band, 'A slice of Freedom Pie', which was the bastard child of the revival of 'the Sex Pistols' and Mozart. I chose the Turian band, playing the song 'Primarch Style'. _

_The room erupted with cheers at the recent craze that had taken over the council races. While I personally hated it, it was a party song that suited drunks. Might as well as make the most of tonight. _

* * *

_The night was pretty good, I seemed to mingle well. While I didn't remember the majority of the names of the dozen of or so troopers, there happened to be a hen party that joined us about eleven. As one can imagine, it was fucking hilarious. One of the Sergeants managed (somehow) to get the bride to be to swap clothes with him and he wore a slutty bunny costume for the rest of the night._

_I ended up escaping outside for fresh air when I was joined by a rather sexy girl, who it turned out, was the daughter of the Governor. We snuck away, and I woke up with a sore neck and a throbbing headache lying next to a half naked girl who looked even worse for wear. _

_Licking my lips, I could taste dry blood. Last night must have been good I think, chuckling at my musings. _

_The young girl moaned, shit I must have woke her. I leaned over to her, stroking her ear. "Sh lass, I have to go, but you know where to find me" I say with a smile. _

_She opened her eyes, bright blue, and gave me a coy smile. "Yeah, so dad can make you lose your job?" She murmured biting my thumb. _

_I laughed, "Yeah, if you really want, but then I wouldn't have a uniform." I say with a wink. A soft laugh makes me lean and kiss her to quieten her. "I really have to go, new recruits, asses to whup."_

_I left her in the small clearing. I have no idea where I was and it was almost quarter past seven. How the hell did we get here?_

_I got to the barracks at about eight. The sun was bright, and my eyes burned. My headache was felt as if Lucifer himself was fucking shit up in my head. _

_I swung open the door to the barracks hard enough to make them bang loudly. While it hurt like fuck, the faces of the people I woke made it all worth it. The troops who shared the tidings last night all held their heads in pain. A few f the other soldiers watched them with amused faces. The ones who didn't care about the misfortune of the others, they simply stared angrily at me. _

_They weren't used to wake up calls. _

"_Rise and fucking shine" I shouted. "Last night was fun, that's why I'm late." _

_Amused looks from the Turians, who were leaning against one of the back walls, showed me how much they were used to even earlier wake up calls. _

"_We have five new recruits, and in ten minutes, you will all be in line, alphabetical order in front of the barracks." I continued. _

_It was more half an hour. And it did nothing for my hangover. Sure, I could live the pain, I've had worse, but this mess was the worst headache possible. They were like zombies, shuffling for flesh. It was a shambles. If this were Soviet Russia, they would have been shot. I had half a mind to do that myself. Just one of them. Perhaps the one moron at the back who was standing with eyes closed. _

"_Okay." I started after they were in a sort of uniform line. "A-TEN-HUT" I screamed. _

_It was like a firework. 57 hands raised, and 57 soldiers saluted as one. It was beautiful. While some of the salutes were slower than others, it was better than I had expected. _

"_Stand at-" I pause, leaving a short pause. I saw one pair of shoulders relax – Williams. "Ease." _

_Turns out the majority were holding their breath. I laughed at the sight of soldiers breathing as one, but I made a mental note of talking to Williams later. _

"_Today is, the start" I paused between words, I have no idea why, perhaps for emphasis, "of something new. The state you are in, is abysmal. I arrived here, and a small group of you tried to take my lunch money." I glared at each of the group, all of them, other than fucking Williams, looked ashamed, "That is not acceptable. You are not better than everyone else. You are soldiers. You help protect the innocents and civvies here." I found myself pacing. _

"_I have found xenophobic soldiers. The Turians are __**NOT**__ our enemy. They are friends and allies and are to be treated as such." I stand in front of Williams, deliberately. "Chief, step forward." _

_She does._

"_Jorrun. Come forward." I shout. _

_He looks shocked, as does Williams, but he jogged over._

"_Now Williams, you had training right?"_

"_Yessir!" She said, with a smart salute. _

"_Good. Wrestle. First three, you lose if you are not standing." She looked terrified. And good thing too, she needed to be taught a lesson. Best way to do it was a fun way, for me and everyone else. _

"_But h-he's a t-turian, I w-won't last a minute!" She said, all semblance of integrity gone. She was simply pleading now. _

_I turned to Jorrun. "Drawn a line in the dirt." _

_He saluted, mandibles clicking in amusement. _

"_Mack ple-"_

"_Its sir while we're on duty Williams." I state, my voice cold, "Now get in the ring." _

* * *

"Mack!" The shouting stirred me from my sleep. More memory things. Shit my prior … eccentric? I can't describe it. He was like me yeah, but way more arrogant. "Mack!"

I sat up from my uncomfortable bed, Arraya was standing in my doorway. I had the Captains Quarters, chosen by the winner of the ever popular 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' which was me.

"You need to see this." She said.

She lead to me CIC. Blood still staining the floor. _Hot air?_ I still can't get over it. I caused the horrific deaths of a around a dozen men …

She took me to the window.

Fuck.

An Amada was gathered.

"Geth." Farrun leant on the window next to me. "One jump away from the Citadel."

From what I understand, we had used the Relay closed to Omega, I even got to see the Omega Relay in all its ominous glory, and we got to the Serpent Nebula I believe. Unfortunately, the relays have their own orbit so we had to fly towards the Citadel. This fleet was slowly moving towards the citadel slowly, but surely. We had to pass them, but Farrun assured me we were they had no weapons activated.

"Can't they just charge them?" I asked.

"Yes, but the Arcadia is decently equipped ship. We've been scanned by two frigates and they don't class us as a threat." He described.

"How come you could drive the Geth ship by the way…" I asked, my voice more accusing than I had intended.

He shrugged, "It's kind of a secret but you deserve to know." He nudged me over to the floating map, away from prying ears. "Every few years STG scout out the Veil, four years ago we captured a fighter. Our advanced pilots were ordered to practise in it in case of, well an invasion." He waved his hand towards the window, "It's pretty good eh?"

I nodded my agreement. "How come you never saw this coming?" I asked. I assume he saw the good Geth, the one who simply want their collective built.

"They didn't show signs of build up, only defensive meseaures. They did appear to building something, but we always get chased out." He replied. I nodding in understanding.

Shit.

It hit me.

The battle of the citadel is about to begin.

Fuck.

**#####/**

**Hey folks, sorry about the delay, but I hope everyone had a great holiday :£**

**I have no excuse, but I did get the new Assassins Creed – fucking awesome. **

**Other than that, I'd like to thank my reviewers; a few mistakes have been changed in past chapters. A big thank you to 'Macman6453' and 'Gavoon' who helped a ton! **

**Oh! I'd like to say, I'm not a fan of the first game, after playing the second, I simply lost interest in it. Come ME2 shiz, I will go into much more detail on quests :3 for those of you who don't know, this story will encompass all three games, so no 'Mass Illuminations 2: Return of the Reapers' and 'Mass Illuminations 3: The Reapers strike back' :£**

**As always, and mistakes that are pointed out I will change them :3 I can't proof read for shit.**

**Have a great year everyone :3 **

**Mack**


	11. Chapter 11 - The battle for the Citadel

_I'm not dead! Yes, it's been a while, but after a bout of writer's block, coupled with a metric ton of coursework made finding time to write hard. _

_Don't despair! I will finish this! _

_VAI's dialogue has been edited in the last few chapters; I decided to go full HK-47 with her/it. _

_Another note, this is written on LibreOffice, so any format differences are because of that. And because I love them, more OCs! I know some people have problem with tons of people who don't actually exist, but I do. It's much easier to make characters to what I want than to mould existing characters. _

_Final note, the first two thousand words were written about four months ago, the latest four are written more recently and you may be able to tell a difference. I might come back to it at some point, because I know that I pretty much skimmed over the events of ME1. Make no mistake, I regret it, and ME2/3 will go much slower with more character development (yay). I skimmed simply because I dislike the first game :v_

_While I leave on a cliffy, I'm gonna start on ME2 shit because its my favourite of the games in the next chapter (most likely anyway). _

_Enjoy,_

_Mack_

* * *

**Chapter 11 – The Battle for the Citadel**

"_I'm one impressive motherfucker wouldn't you say?" - Divide _by_ Disturbed_

It was about an hour journey skirting the Geth fleet. We did get scanned again, and ended up being chased by a fighter.

If one thing's for certain, I fucking hate space battles.

It's as if someone starts hand breaking on the middle of a motorway. I keep getting thrown from side to side; I even re-opened one of my facial scars after being thrown into table.

We won, in the end, and by 'won' I mean we blew up that fighter to smithereens.

But the Geth fleet was less than an hour away. I could only assume that Shepard is on her way to Ilos now, I'm not even entirely sure what I should do next. I mean, I think I'll go to Udina, and sort of do some protective duty, but what if he sends me to a ship and I end up in space? Fuck.

We even ended up with problems in trying to dock.

The Alliance wouldn't have us because they were busy, the Salarian dock told us to go to the Alliance dock, the Asari flat out refused to talk to us and the Turians simply said 'Why are you docking? Get out there and do your duty.'

Farrun eventually got in touch with the current Dalatrass and we got access to the special STG dock. This was pretty cool; full of cool tech, ships and fancy looking weapons.

Now? I have a fast paced walk heading towards Udina's office. Perhaps Anderson is still there? Udina might even still be unconscious in that case.

I had just got off of the taxi things. It was safe to say that I was impressed. They move smoothly, as if you are a cloud.

"Excuse me." A small, familiar voice said trying to push past me.

"Tali?" I couldn't stop myself. I wanted to stay hidden, if anything, I wanted to surprise Ash when this was over. Perhaps see if I could find some Hibiscus somewhere, I found that, that is the universal flower that women don't hate. Perhaps it was simply my choice of women, but they were beautiful flowers.

Tali stopped trying to push past my bulk. I had put my Armour on, and VAI had been pleasantly silent since we landed. Tali cocked her head to one side. "Do I know you?"

I snorted. Not entirely sure why really.

"You do." Unfortunately, I shouldn't have continued talking. "Why have you not gone to Ilos yet?"

I bit my lip. How on Earth was I supposed to explain that I knew that?

"Bosh'tet council turning their backs on the truth." She seemed to pause, to my dismay, she realised my fears. "How did you know we were headed there…"

I gulped. What … oh fuck it.

"VAI, lower my helmet." I state. I'm not entirely sure how it works in all honesty.

Tali's shock was definitely worth it though.

"Mack?" She cried. She seemed to scowl after the momentary show of shock. "Why didn't you contact us sooner? Shepard was distraught about how Virmire went."

I can't help but smile. "I guess it all turned out for the best eh?"

She frowned. And then scowled again. "How did you know about Ilos? Is this why Shepard was angry with you?"

I lose my smile. "I told her I would tell her when this was over." I stated, a little too coldly.

This wasn't lost to her.

"How can you be like that!" She shouted. "This is bigger than you! Can you not satisfy your ego for the sake of your friends!"

I was still apprehensive about what happened when we took the Arcadia, my anger was simply released to Tali as she was the only person who appeared to feel provoked by my actual presence.

"Friends?" I snarl, "The people who I stayed with for a few weeks?" I felt myself pulling up to my full height, six feet tall with shoulders about a metre wide opposed to a short, small Quarian.

"Ash was your friend."

"And I'll make it up to her after this over."

The Quarian's expression appeared to soften. "Whatever you think you know, I pity you."

I physically had to unclench my fists. _Pity? _Who was she to _pity_ me? I did not need her pity. I could feel myself understanding the stereotype of Tali's people. They were nefarious indeed. Here she was, seeing a man who was dead, and she was making judgments about him, judgements that were unfounded. Ego. She knew nothing of what will happen to her.

Pity? Shit, nothing disgusts me more. But she needed it more than I.

"Whatever I know, I pity you too Tali." I state, my voice void of emotion. If I wasn't so angry, perhaps I would have made a friend.

I pushed past her, "Give Shepard my regards." I gave Tali one last glance, "for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

And I was. Despite my misgivings, I didn't mean to take my pent up anger, mainly at myself, on her. I sighed.

"And I." Were her final words to me. Nice to know we aren't at each other's throats but this will be resurface ME2 comes around. What if I'm not with Shepard? I mean, there's nothing that forces me to help her. I could go my own path. Help out the universe in another way?

Perhaps, but I'll think about that later. Right now I need to see Anderson. If Tali is still here then Anderson hasn't decked Udina yet. Perhaps he'll let me do it?

Guess who was standing outside of Udina's office nervously rubbing his knuckles?

That's right. Anderson.

"Captain?" I state, my anger still there, but all but vanished at the sight of my prior's mentor.

He seems to flinch at my very presence. "Mack? I thought you were dead?"

"Changed my mind." I said with slight smile. "I met the Quarian, what's the plan?"

"Plan?" Once again, he visibly flinched. I couldn't hold my laughter.

"Wait ten minutes. Then we'll go in, okay sir?" I say, an amused expression.

"Yeah, that's what I'm doing." He was conflicted, and I don't blame him. If Shepard fails then he could lose his job and be court marshalled. I'm not entirely sure what that entails, but I'm pretty sure it's not good.

"Let me sir."

"Mack?" The surprise in his voice was only slight. As if he almost expected it from me.

"If Udina tries to stop us, then we have to do something. Just look like you're trying to stop me." I said with a laugh, "Better me than you sir." I add.

Despite my light heartedness, he still looks conflicted. We spend a few minutes in a sombre silence. We both knew that Udina won't be happy ever again, if he had emotions of course. But I would most likely be arrested if Shepard fails. If Shepard fails however, we'd all be dead.

Letting off a dark chuckle, Anderson appeared to have the same thoughts as me.

I opened Udina's door to see him talking to some other person on his omnitool.

"I don't care if …What do you want?" He asked. Turning to me, his swagger and natural snarl amused me. He was wearing his signature suit, the funky beige one. Oh my god, how I hated it.

"I'm sorry sir." All of my anger at myself, at Tali, was put into the punch sending the now unconscious ambassador across the room.

Anderson followed, he must have been too conflicted. He sort of looked at the unconscious Ambassador who was on the floor of his balcony. He simply shook his head.

"Let's hope Shepard can do this." He started typing into Udina's computer. Removing the dock arm? Giving him permission? I'm not entirely sure.

"Done." He turned to me, "Thank you Mack, now, get out of here."

I pulled a salute. Luckily my prior was pretty good at those. I wouldn't have had the foggiest. I have to admit, my prior's skills are coming in pretty handy.

I left the Captain alone, a few moments later hearing him shout for C-Sec. I liked him, of his three apprentices, my prior felt he was the most distant but I liked him. Three?

I was the Colonist right … Shepard was the Spacer, so then there must be a, presumably, biotic Earthborn somewhere. Nifty.

"Get him!" I heard shout behind me. Fuck, I had slowed down in my musings.

I sprinted down an Alleyway, but it had lights for stupid reason. What single file alley has lights? Before I could even consider this question I was abruptly tackled to the ground.

I elbowed the Turian on my legs, only to get a boot from the Human accompanying him.

I could have taken them both out. I'd be fucked up, but I'd win in the long run. But I didn't to kill C-Sec, I didn't want to have them hunting me forever more.

Luck was with me. Kinda. Not really.

The Geth attack started.

I wasn't one to pass up on something like that. I swung my legs, tripping the human officer. He hit his head pretty hard, knocking him out cold. The Turian was still watching the sky of potential death. A simple sleeper hold was all he needed.

After glancing at the comatose C-Sec agents I looked up at the sky. Despite the horror, it was beautiful.

Ships filled the sky, like various objects in the nebula sky. Various bursts of red and blue light were flashing like the fireworks of New Years Eve. The Geth were predominately outnumbered. How the Council could think this that was the main attack is completely mindboggling.

I shook off my amazement. I needed to meet with the Salarians.

It took almost an hour to get to the pond, but I made it. I told them to wait outside the elevators, mainly because I couldn't remember where the Mako lands, but also because I know Shep has to go to there at some point.

"Where to now?" Farrun asked.

"Nowhere, now, we wait." I state simply.

"Huh? What for?" Arraya asked, cocking her head.

"Shepard."

"But … how do you know she'll be here?"

"I just do."

"What are you talking about?" Arraya was sounding peeved now.

"She'll be here." My voice not changing.

"_How_ do you know?!"

"Special insight."

"What? How… how is that…"

"Accept it."

"I found the STG reports on Virmire…" Farrun interrupted.

Both Arraya and I turned to him, she was standing up against me squaring against me. I have no doubts that I could take her, but I'd take damage. Some serious damage I reckon.

"What about it?" We said in unison, sharing an amused glance.

"Casualty reports…" He replied, looking into his omnitool.

I raised my brow, there were casualties? Shit the Salarians, how heartless…

"Arraya, we were the only Salarians to survive…"

She dipped her head and said something in her native tongue. I was touched by the simple gesture. Few people had that sentiment, only families had sort of treatment. It said a lot about how the STG worked.

"Shepard only lost two troops, I'm sorry you missed the funeral Mack …" Huh?

"W-who?" My heartbeat ceased to beat.

Farrun swiped at his omnitool, seemingly frowning. "I can't find specific names …" he grunted something in his native tongue. My heart was now, paradoxically, doing bounds. If it were possibly, it would be on the next ship to Earth.

"Ah," shouted Farrun, startling me in my anxiousness, making me gasp. Despite the funny look he gave me, he continued, "I've got it listed as a Marine Officer, and Gunnery Chief."

My heart stopped.

* * *

**Shepard**

To say the Mako hit the ground hard was an understatement. We hit the ground _**HARD**_.

A mix of cursing and shaky blessings followed the inevitable silence of the realisation. We made it.

It took mere moments before we could hear gunshots. They broke the silence, and the remainder of the front window of the mako.

"Go go go!" I shouted.

Tali was the first out. While she still had much to learn, since joining my team she had improved noticeably. Yes, she had the stature of a, perhaps a novice marine, nowhere near the skills of what she'll have when finished her training.

Garrus followed. Since helping him with doctor Heart, he's really opened up. If anything, he's cute, and that feels really messed up to say. While Garrus isn't exactly a Humanphobe, I doubt he has the same thoughts I do. Especially when he trains with his shirt off. Who would have thought a steel like chest is sexy? Not to mention his dry wit.

Both Liara and I jumped out after that. Liara… she was the wild card of my team. Our only biotic left, and where her training is concerned, I can't say. Assuming it was because of her mother's status, she's surprisingly well trained. Her biotic skills are second to only a few, and she can do all sorts of gymnastic shit I could only to dream about.

Of course, as soon as I had hit the ground, the Geth were dead, and two Salarians were running towards us. They looked familiar but I couldn't place them.

"Commander Shepard!" The female shouted. She held a submachine gun, and had a sniper rifle strapped over her shoulder. Her partner looked more dangerous however, holding a shotgun, with an ungainly sword on his back.

"Yes?" I replied.

* * *

**Mack**

Ash was dead.

After all that… all I did. She was dead anyway.

Perhaps I can't change things? Are things preordained?

_Time is like a river. It can twist and bend, go in any direction, but it will always lead to the ocean._

The same point in time.

Is this right though? Is this the ocean? In the game we had choices – _this isn't a game anymore_!

I shook my head at my own naivety. People die and… People like Ash, who simply don't deserve to. But isn't this how the world works? There is no such thing as _good_ or _bad_ – sacrificing the majority of the Salarians to save Ash and Kaiden, since they would have a bigger impact in the future, would have been good, but I'm pretty sure the families of the Salarians would not see it like that.

_There are no facts, simply perspective. _

Black and white, Yin and Yang, Night and Day, nothing was that clear anymore.

But if I had focused solely on the Salarians, then perhaps Ash or Kaiden would have survived.

Huh, I used my knowledge and then… what? The universe decides to fuck me over?

Giving myself a small smile, Mother Nature was a woman of course. Thinking back to Ash removed my smiles just as quick.

She didn't deserve to die, well, once again, perspective matters. She was xeno-ist? The equivalent of racism however, and I doubt any other the other species under her scrutiny would agree with me.

But she had a big heart? I snort at that. She was wonderful… feisty in her own racist, soldiery way. I wipe at my face, removing some of the tears, which hadn't stopped flowing since I left the Salarians.

Ugh, since when am I so weak? I'm strong, I can fight anything.

Another bout of tears away at my resolve. What could I do?

_Kill him._

Saren? Shepard does that.

_Nothing is set in stone._

I snort again, Ash is dead, so is Kaiden, so… I'm the new Virmire survivor? Pah, I wonder is Ash or Kaiden would have talked to themselves?

_Who said I was you?_

* * *

"_My honey heard me comin' on my left right on left!"_

"_My honey heard me comin' on my left right on left!" Was the chorused reply._

"_I saw Jody runnin' on their left right on left" I shouted._

"_I saw Jody runnin' on their left right on left!" _

_I had next to no experience in training troops. But, after a few months, doing a march of the patrol route to a hastily researched march-y sounding tune was still great to do on a Sunday morning. _

_At least the Turians agreed… the humans? Not so much._

_I clocked at least four mutterings of 'fucking' five 'wanker' and a multitude of 'shit' 'dick' and even a few Turian curses that they had learnt. It brought a tear to my eye. _

_The new squad, and while still a few still held xenophobic views and wouldn't admit it, had advanced Turian skills that made the troops much more effective. _

_But they were still fucking lazy._

_As the cadence call continued, I slowed my pace to inspect the troops at the back of the group. _

_Williams saw me and simply snorted. She was still the biggest xenophobe and was the only trooper to actively try to alienate the Turians. In turn, alienating some of the more liberal soldiers, with this endless domino effect due to some silly held principles of pride. _

_Sick of her shit again, I strolled into the group and pulled her out. The other soldiers looked at me but this talk was a long time due. _

_Last night, Jorrun told me of an incident that pitted her against the Turians. From what I heard, she approached them and tried to provoke them, stating that I would take her side naturally because I was human. So, I want her side before I judge, just to prove a point. _

"_What?" She hissed at me. _

"_What happened last night?" I asked, still jogging, but acutely aware of the focus turning towards us. What can I do? Sure, the embarrassment can be a punishment of sorts. Jorrun was the embodiment of etiquette, and he wasn't in the business of back stabbing, and Williams… I sighed._

"_Last night?" She asked curtly. _

"_Don't play dumb, what happened with Jorrun? I want your side." I said, ignoring her tone._

"_We had an argument, there's nothing to it."_

_At this I snapped, "One more incident that involves racism, and you'll be shipped back to whatever rock your family calls home. Got it?" I snarled. _

_If looks could kill, I'd be as dead as a dodo. "That isn't a new threat for me, sir." _

_Because of her grandfather? "It's not a threat, chief." He cadence call had stopped, and now there was silence made of veiled anger, mainly between Williams and her supporters, and the Turians and their allies. This sort of shit is what gets coalition style groups torn apart. _

"_Listen up!" I shouted. Not all head turned to me, but enough to make me continue. "If I hear of anymore racism within this unit, so help me God, I will ensure that your career is finished." More glares and even a few mutterings. _

_This conflict is not solved. Far from._

* * *

**Mack**

I rubbed my head. Shit. This isn't what I want right now.

The goddamn elevators. Slow as shit. Especially in a crisis.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. For fucks sake, Saren could be in council chambers, right this second and I'm here, being stalled by shoddy engineering.

Distant sounds of gunfire made me look away from the elevator doors.

"Observation: The floor below seems to giving off high levels of energy." VAI said. I almost replied with a bit of sarcasm, but what she followed with surprised me. "Radio broadcasts suggests that a Geth infiltration squadron are attacked a Cerberus cell."

"Cerberus? As in human terrorists?" I asked.

"Confirmation: A special weapons unit it appears, putting it onto com."

The amazing Australian voice came through loud in my earpiece.

"Swanson, cover Yakamori's retreat, he has the package."

A chorus of replies came through, and I leant over the balcony to get a look at their situation.

Five humans, with about a dozen Geth closing in. Of the humans, I could recognise Miranda from miles off with her voluptulous outfit. Yakamori was running away from the semi-circle of approaching Geth with a briefcase, and yes, an actual silver briefcase I'd expect in a James Bond film.

Swanson appeared to be doing a great job of distracting the robots, with a mix of biotics and submachine gun fire. A lucky shot managed to take down a flamethrower Geth, but a sniper tokk him down with a rather gruesome headshot.

Ignoring the swearing filtering through my mic. I jumped onto a Geth sniper who just happened to under my position. I landed with a hefty crunch and pistol-whipped a trooper standing next to him. "I thought you might need a hand." I said, with my best Sean Connery impression.

Miranda wasn't amused. "N7 trooper, why aren't up in the sky?"

I snorted. As I went to reply, VAI's voice interupted me. "Observation: Could this conservation not wait til after the battle?"

Another snort and I swung around my pistol, taking a few shots at some of the Geth who were taking cover. Miranda seemed to follow my lead, either that or she simply had the same thoughts as VAI.

With the Geth sniper down, their group seemed to lose effectiveness almost instantly. The Cerberus troops now had less reason to hide, and within minutes the rest of the robots were out of commission.

Miranda strolled up to me, not bothering to lower her gun. "So?"

I put a bullet into the trooper I bashed, and look at her. Honestly, I tried not to look at her...'goods' but its like trying to... do something incredibly impossible. If she noticed, she didn't say anything, or perhaps her permanent scowl got deeper.

"I'm here to kill Saren." I say bluntly.

Her scowl did not disappear. "So are we, but we have no clue to what he's trying do." She lowered her gun and turned away from me, "With the citadel closed, there's nothing he can do."

"He's going to the council chambers, overwrite... something I think." I say, putting my pistol back into it's holster.

"Oh?"

* * *

_Scrolling through my emails, I thought about our species problem. _

_Williams wasn't going to budge. The Turians weren't in the wrong, but technically neither was the chief. Interspecies racism is protected under freedom of speech and thought, whether or not it was counter intuitive or not. _

_BUY THREE PISTOLS AND YOU COULD WIN AN ALL EXPENSES PAID TRIP TO SHANXI _

_I snort, both at the spam and laws. _

_SPECTRE TRAINING _

_I opened this one. _

_Mack_

_It's Anderson, unfortunately, you weren't chosen for the spectre position. They chose Shepard, and your recommendation definitely helped. When she gets back from pirate hunting, we'll be meeting a council rep to watch over her. I expect you and Garrett to be at her ceremony when it actually happens. _

_Anderson_

_I smiled. Shepard was a decent fit. Good record and I never heard a bad story from the good Captain. Out of the three of us, she definitely deserved it. She's not as reckless as me, or as timid as good ole Steven Garrett either. Good lad, definitely, but can't keep his head in combat. Great biotic if I recall. Never met Shepard though. _

_My omnitool interrupted my musings. I answered it to see the beautiful face of Georgina Swift. _

"_Got me a ring yet?" She smiled. We'd being meeting up since I got here, and our little romp my first night here. She wanted to get married settle down and make a family..._

"_What about Lieutenant Barton? If I'm not mistaken, his father wants you two betrothed by the end of the year." I tease. Barton's father was an Admiral, and wanted his son to marry the young Governor-to-be before he reaches the grand old age of 25. _

"_Screw you." She laughed, such a great sound. "Okay Commander, to business," She put emphasis on the 'Commander' part making me scowl, "We have an dig scheduled for next week, apparently some energy found near a shipping community, I need your best men there just in case of trouble."_

_She brushed one of her blond curls from her face, highlighting her youth. He was what, 23? And she was already well versed in the arts of politicking and could convince almost anyone that the black was white. She wasn't a bad artist either, and I made sure to frequently request portraits. _

_I glanced at on the ones on my office wall, it was me, holding a salute. I think we had sex just before she finished my arm, and I smile at the memory. _

"_What?" She asked shyly. _

"_When's the next time we can meet?" I asked, a slight smile and twinkle in my eye. _

_She laughed, "Father's visiting Earth for some colonial business, how about then?"_

"_It's a date." I wink, cutting the call. _

_I leant back on my chair. I'm going to miss her when I have to leave. Such a cute lass. Still, I'm a soldier, and I can't give her what she wants. I frowned. _

_She wants marriage... but I can't settle down... and she'll be devastated when I leave... I assume anyway. We've spoke about this multiple times..._

_I'm once again interrupted from my musings, this time from shouting outside my door. With a sigh, I stand up. Love life later, angry soldiers now. Give me soldiers any day. _

_As my door slid open, a rather amusing site greeted me. _

_There quite a few troopers, and they were standing in two distinct groups. In the blue corner, the one with blue coloured lockers, we had the mix of Turians and Humans, we even had a Drell in there too. _

_However, in the yellow corner, with a bunch of yellow rubbish bags, we a purely human group which was significantly smaller. _

_Each group had a distinct leader, and it doesn't take an eezo scientist to guess who they were. Chief Williams and Serviceman Jorrun Lyons. And they wrestling. _

_Jorrun had his torso bare, and unfortunately Williams wore a tank top, and both sported shorts. _

_I watched for a few minutes, and I realised, neither of the two were getting the upper hand. _

_She's learnt well. Jorrun kept a poker-face, but his breath was loud and husky. I assume Williams ambushed him after his rounds assuming she could win. _

_With a grin, she dislocated his shoulder plate and he cried in pain. With a rough shove she pushed him over, and put her foot on his chest with a victory pose. _

_As she began to gloat, I stripped off my shirt. Jorrun was good, I'll give him that, but Williams was resourceful, but I was simply better. I'm not just fulfilling my ego, I have more experience than the chief, and I'm also a resourceful human, which is better than being an honour bound Turian. _

"_How about a fresh opponent?" I snarl as I stroll towards the groups. Dozens of eyes turn to me, and William's show shock. "If I win, this pathetic feud ends, you win, then I'll enforce a human only policy." _

_Some gasps come from the blue corner, some even from the yellow, but the chief tries, unsuccessfully, to hide her surprise. _

"_Are you sure sir?" _

"_What, are you scared?" I snarl. I don't mean to look like a bastard, but this feud needs to end, and this is what people like the good chief respond to. _

_As I expected, she returns my snarl, "I'll show you scared Commander." And with a growl our bout begins._

_She leads with a quick jab, testing my defences. I don't bite, and simply take a defensive stance, jumping on the balls of my feet holding my arms in front of my face. _

_I'm a pretty big fellow, and she assumes I use my strength to finish fights quickly. She's dead wrong. She feints and expects me go for a quick knock-out, instead, and to her surprise, I flick out my own jab, hitting her square in the face. She stumbles back with a dazed expression, and jump forward trying to hit her again, but she drops to the floor. _

_I go to kick her, but she rolls and jumps back to her feet. I notice tears in her eyes, I assume that's because I hit her in the bridge of her nose, but the tears blur her vision giving me an edge. _

_She comes to this realisation as well, and she wipes one of her eyes. During this moment, I jump at the chance to catch her off guard, to my surprise, she grabs my fist and twists. For the first time in a while, I feel genuine pain. _

_I can't believe I fell for that. She smirks, but that disappears when I pull my fist away, bringing her with me, and my elbow connects with a crunch into her face, followed by my knee hitting her stomach, winding and downing her. _

_As she lands on her knees, I deliver a powerful roundhouse kick to her face. As it connects, I realise that it was a tad excessive, but its too late now. Her unconscious body spins, and lands flat on her face. _

_A cheer surprises me form the yellow corner, and Jorrun puts a friendly hand on my shoulder. I brush him off, and I walk over to the yellows. Ignoring their glares, I speak softly. _

"_A deal is a deal, if there's anyone who disagrees, feel free to leave." I turn to walk back to my office, but I glance over my shoulder, "Get the chief to medical, and when she wakes tell her to come to my office."_

* * *

_Its a couple of hours before she comes to see me. I did get a message from our resident medic, and I certainly did the number on her. I broke her nose, and fractured her skull, thats not mentioning the mess of bruises she'll have from Jorrun's fight. _

_She let herself in just as I was finishing my report to Governor Swift, Georgina's father. _

"_Of course sir, I've already spoke to Geor... Advisor Swift about the dig site, and I will have my best men stationed there." _

"_Thank you Commander, although, I wish you and my daughter weren't so close..." He said. I gritted my teeth. _

"_We're simply friends sir, I love the intelligent conversation that the barracks generally lacks." He gave me slight chuckle, removing some of the tension. _

"_Of course Mack, I'll await next week's report." And he cut the call. _

_The chief was simply standing by the door with an amused expression. I hope she doesn't hold a grudge about what happened..._

"_Come in Chief." I say, gesturing at the seat in front of my desk. _

"_I'll stand sir, you wanted to see me?" She didn't move, but she still had the amused expression on her face. _

"_If that's what you want, drink?" She shook her head, but I walked over to my cabinet. Getting out some whiskey, a habit I gained off of my Grandfather, and which I continue in his memory. I poured it in two tumblers and sat back down. _

_I, naturally, downed my glass in one. His had earned me a rather... unsavoury reputation amongst the barracks, and everyone assumes that I could drink them under the table with ease. I can handle my alcohol better than most sure, but I'm not a pro. _

_She looked at the tumbler like it was the Antichrist, and I chuckled. No one appears to have a good taste in the good stuff. _

"_Whether you like it or not, your gonna need it lass." I say with a smile. _

"_Where did you learn to fight?" She said, the words coming rather quickly making me smile bigger._

"_Drink up, you won't like it." She does as I say, her face a permanent cringe as she tries to do what I did. Failing that, she simply splutters and tries to hide her blush. I simply chuckle at her misfortune, and continue my story. _

"_After I finished the N7 training, I entered joined the Alliance Black Ops. Our instructors were a variety of races. A Drell led our undercover training, a Krogan led our special weapons and tactics and a Turian/human duo led the close quarters combat section." _

_She took another sip, once again wincing, her eyes wide at this information. _

"_Aliens?" _

"_Allies." I correct, "At least the Turian was. The Krogan, Commander Smash, as he made us call him, owed a life debt to Admiral Hackett, and even admitted he enjoyed training humans just spite the council races." I smile at the memory, "despite us being all squishy and shit, Krogans like us for that reason alone in most cases." _

_I lean back on my chair and look her in the eye. "It was the CQC section that helped the most though, special operations are always more effective when you dispatch opponents quickly and silently. Guns always have light, which isn't great in the dead of night." _

_She frowned, thinking, "So... without the help of the Alien- sorry, Allies, then you wouldn't be the soldier you are?" _

_I smile, "Sort of, what I'm trying to get across is that whatever you believe, a species made for war will be naturally better than us in some regards. Humans are much more adaptable however, and that's why you were able to beat Jorrun."_

_She goes to say something else, but I hold out my hand, "I beat you because I was brutal, and brought you down without trying to inflict pain, as you did with Jorrun. Your focus on inflicting pain made you use more stamina, and I barely lost a breath." _

_She frowned again, and then she pursed her lips. "And thats why you want us together?" _

"_If the Turians focussed more on tactics than archaic ideals of honour, then we would have become just another client state of their glorious empire." I reply, waving my arms to show my opinion of 'honour'. _

_She sighed, and I didn't actually take note that she had sat down. "I'm sorry sir... I was out of line..." _

_I laugh, "Don't worry about it Williams." I say, dismissal clear. _

_She stood, saluted and headed towards the door. _

"_Oh, Williams" She turns at my voice, "Apologize to Jorrun, and I want you two to lead Alpha and Beta over to sector eight. High priority apparently, speak to the head researcher, his name escapes me." _

_Another salute and she's gone._

* * *

_News of the Prothean beacon shocked the Command, and I was sent to the dig site to make judgement calls. It was weird, the news should have been great, but with news of a new stealth ship on the way, carrying the potential Spectre, Commander Kiara Shepard, along with Captain Anderson and a council Spectre, Nihlus, on their way, the troopers were openly nervous. Soldier based intuition perhaps?_

_Whatever the reason, the Geth attack surprised all of us. As alpha squad, along with myself, we on a general patrol route, the Geth attacked mercilessly. _

_Williams managed to get off a distress beacon off just in time for a ridiculously loud white noise to black out communications. _

_We managed to get as far as the outskirts of the camp when I saw it._

_A vicious hamster looking creature, decimated Beta squad, Jorrun himself was torn in half. _

_I was shocked, and I took aim with my sniper rifle. I took out a Geth sniper, but before I could kill the unknown alien, a flash of light, and he was gone. _

_I looked around, but the rodent had gone. Another flash of light and he appeared on the cliff face opposite my position. I fired once, shield piercing rounds, yet his shield still blocked it. _

_He snarled at me, before aiming his own rifle. Another one of my shots, and once again, its absorbed. _

_Before I say 'mother-fucker', I saw him pull the trigger._

_After a moment of intense pain, darkness took me._

* * *

"If you ever need someone with my... talents, give me a bell." I said with smile. Getting on Cerberus's good side is the best way to get to Shepard during the Lazarus Project.

With a scowl, "Of course, but we have our specialists." I have to enjoy her personality, so I smile even bigger.

"Of course, but they aren't as good as me." I say with a wink.

One of her friends laughs, and says something before Miranda can rip me to shreds. "We'll put in a good word for you." Swanson I think it is.

"Thanks, after Saren's taken care of, I might be out of work for a while."

I offered to escort the group to there shuttle. I didn't ask what they were getting, and while I did care, a little, I decided to ignore it, crime bosses like people just do shit without asking right?

To my dismay, I heard the crash before I saw it.

Looking up, I guess I realise what part of the game we've got to. Seeing four figures climb out of the giant lift is enough for me to recognise how long I've got left to kill Saren before Shepard can.

The sight of Sovereign floating towards the middle of the Citadel was terrifying.

I left the Cerberus troops silently, and I broke into a sprint towards the giant lifts. While Shepard's crew took the main lift, there was, luckily, there was a maintenance elevator next to the main one. It was much smaller, but before the doors closed, someone joined me.

The Turian held her arm to my throat, pushing me against the back the now, much more smaller elevator.

Instead of grabbing the arm, and trying to pull it off, I brought my knee to her stomach. Her hold on me faltered, and I managed to give her a nasty right hook that sent her sprawling backwards.

"What the fuck birdbrain?!" I shouted. My helmet was down, despite the filters, I prefer fresh air.

"Birdbrain? Hairless Pyjak!" She lunged at me again, this time winding me. This time she holds my throat with her talons. I assume she wanted to look me in the eye as she killed me.

Something made her hesitate.

"Who are you?!" She snarled.

"Lieutenant-Commander **** 'Mack' ********, and you are?" I ask, my voice leaving me due to her inhuman, Turian I guess, grip.

"Mack?" She frowned, and for a moment it looked like she was going to kill me anyway. Then her eyes lightened. "Eden Prime Mack?"

She dropped me, and I land heavy on my knees coughing and spluttering. After I managed to compose myself, I look back up at her. "Why do you look so familiar?"

She put her hands on her hips, and raised an eyebrow. "Do you not remember me at all?"

It was weird... I assume my prior met her at some point... after racking my brains for Turians I had met, I had no clue.

"I'm sorry..."

She laughed, "Don't worry, we met for like five minutes when you first got your post."

I frowned again. First post? I assume that when Jorrun was fighting with my prior's predecessor... wait... didn't Jorrun have a daughter?

"Jorrun?"

A soft chuckle left her lips, or where her lips should be I guess, "No, but he's my father..."

As I bit my lip, her gaze turns towards the floor. "Yeah... we've already buried him..."

"Allirah, wasn't it?" I get back on my feet, and I put my hand on her shoulder. "He fought well, not to mention that it was him that helped me train the garrison."

She gives me a soft smile, but turns towards the glass. I frown, but I stand next to her. "We're nearly there, and you can get revenge with me." I say.

We do the rest of the journey in silence.


End file.
